


Call Out to the Mockingjay

by muffincollection



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games, Angst, Blood, Death, Fight To Death, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Self empowerment, Violence, corrupt government
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 12:42:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22356442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muffincollection/pseuds/muffincollection
Summary: In the far future, after the country had gone to war, twelve districts were built around one Capitol. In the Capitol of Panem, they brought two tributes from each district to fight to the death in a war against themselves for pure enjoyment.After eighteen years of avoiding being reaped, Taeyong’s life falls apart in front of his very eyes the moment his baby brothers name is called, and the very clear voice of Johnny Seo takes his place.Soon after, his name is called, and Taeyong realized that goodbyes had to be meaningful and death could be just seconds away.
Relationships: Lee Taeyong/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 11
Kudos: 56





	1. 75th Annual Hunger Games

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS BASED OFF THE HUNGER GAMES
> 
> Which means, there is going to be a lot of mentions of blood, fighting, death, and all of that including a lot of angst. Read with that thought in mind, and if ever uncomfortable with any themes in this fic you are free to click off.
> 
> These characters actions do not reflect real life at all, and have all been made into personal characters of mine that I am creating them to be. How they think/act is based off how I make them act, not how they truly act. Thank you!
> 
> NOT BETA READ AT ALL! Any grammar mistakes and spelling errors I’m sorry!
> 
> Please do not repost anywhere.
> 
> This lovely fic wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for my lovely friend Jen. All the dedication goes to you!! You’re lovely and I hope you enjoy this.

District 12 was the poorest district in the country. Each and every day was hard to get by, whether it be from the hunger or sheer fear that would pump the veins of the civilians when the Capitol police visited. Their district was poor, remote, and surrounded by fences that prevented anyone and everyone from leaving grounds to hunt or escaping. 

Lee Taeyong was poor. Despite the entire district being poor, he still managed to be of the lower class on the levels. Those considered ‘higher class’ were the ones who owned bakeries or shops. Even then the Capitol police still took a good amount of what they made. 

Taeyong is eighteen, which meant that he has gone eighteen years without being chosen in the reaping. 

_ The reaping.  _ Or, the Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games was to provide the Capitol with entertainment. They were reaped, sent to train, then they were forced to fight till there was one person standing. This wasn’t population control, no, Taeyong saw right through everything they spat out. 

Sighing and straying from the onslaught of thoughts, Taeyong grabs his bow and arrows. Everyday he went outside the borders of the district to hunt. It was extremely illegal, and Taeyong knew the risks that came with hunting. 

He could probably be sentenced to death. 

But there was nothing for his family, his father died in a mining accident a year ago and his family has been suffering. His mom and his younger brother Mark were helping around the house due to their mother’s emotional problems. Every since their father passed away, nothing has been the same.

Taeyong steps beneath the fence and down the hill behind the fence. He ducks quickly into the first to avoid anyone seeing him. Sighing, he travels deeper into the forest, looking around to spot any animals. 

He hears a small crack further away and he takes aim to whatever it may be. A small rabbit hops out from behind a tree and Taeyong aims his bow towards the small creature. Before everything, Taeyong loved animals and refused to kill them. But after his father died, he stopped caring. The district police did nothing to secure their family like they did others who lost their father or husband because his children were old enough to care for the family. 

That wasn’t true. Mark was only fourteen and the only thing he wanted to do was take care of his mom. Taeyong knew that he couldn’t let his family down and make them suffer. So he did the most, with hunting, gathering, and collecting ingredients that Mark said we’re good for medicine. 

The cold weather pricks his skin the more he focuses. He’s about to take aim when he feels two hands grab his waist, causing him to lose aim and shoot at a tree instead.

His heart rate picks up and he pried himself from the grasp and stumbled back.

It was fucking Johnny. Taeyong scoffs and lowers his aim, “You can’t do that shit, John!” He whacks the tall man’s arm. 

“Hey, it’s Johnny,” He pouts, “Sorry, but I couldn’t help it. You were so focused and it was cute. And you’ve lost more weight since I’ve seen you, you can’t just not eat, Taeyong.”

“If you were to go to the Games you’d die too quick, weak heart,” Taeyong rolls his eyes and walks towards where his arrow landed and ignores the last part of Johnny’s sentence, “The reaping is tomorrow morning.” 

“Did Mark do the tesserae?” Johnny asked, “I know he’s never done it before, since he’s so young. But did he sign up for it?”

“No, I won’t let him,” Taeyong replies, “He’s too naive. Him being entered is basically a death sentence.”

“Have you ever thought if you were to get chosen?” Johnny hummed, “Have everything just fall before you as they call ‘TAEYONG LEE!’ To the entire district. Hell, our District as a whole is a death sentence.”

Taeyong looks at Johnny and rolls his eyes, “Don’t be stupid. If I get chosen I’m not letting some prissy bitch from District 1 kill me.”

Johnny nods slowly, “Taeyong, aren’t you scared?”

The smaller hums at that, then looks away from his friend, “Every day of my life.”

The other nods and runs a hand through his hair, “Deer three o’clock.” 

Then the night is peaceful, and the thoughts of the reaping go away with the wind. Taeyong bites his tongue when it’s time to go back, something unsettling creeping up his neck as he ducks under the fence sneakily. His backpack is heavy with the meat that he  _ can  _ carry. He gave some to Johnny because he probably needs it as well. It wasn’t allowed to get food from the forest, and even if it was almost everyone didn’t dare to step outside the fences. 

Traveling back was anything but peaceful. The crickets chirped, the birds called for their mates, and the distinct sound of bullets rang through the air. It wasn’t uncommon in their district that people would get executed on sight for violating the ‘laws’ of the land. Being from one of the worst Districts, the brutality was rough. Black and blue littering the faces of adults and even  _ children  _ wasn’t uncommon. Forces like the Capitol and District police were brutal and unnecessarily biased. Although the police of the district weren’t working for the Capitol, they still held a sense of superiority over the people. Taeyong kicks a few stray rocks on the path to the house. But as he gets further lost in thought, the quicker he’s taken out of them with someone grabbing him and pulling him behind a bush. An engine roars and a light is flashed from the sky as if checking the surrounding area for any people that are escaping or doing anything illegal. His mouth is covered with a rough calloused hand. 

When the light disappears, Taeyong throws the hand off of his mouth and breaths. He twists his body to see who he is laying against. 

“Jongin!” Taeyong gasps, “What are you doing out here?”

“I knew you’d be out here, the Capitol is coming in today to set up for the reaping, I knew they’d be looking for any people trying to escape so I grabbed you to avoid you getting killed.” Jongin replies, “They’re getting more violent and searching more, so be careful.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Taeyong waves off, “I need to get back to my Mom and Mark.”

“Uhm, how are they doing...,” Jongin asks awkwardly, he knew the family long before the passing of their father, “Without him?”

“My Mom is still mourning, Mark is more focused on his medicines than he is on my father. They never got as close as me and my Father.”

“I get it,” Jongin says, “And I’m sorry.”

Story goes; Jongin was originally from District Four, after the death of his parents and ultimately becoming an orphan, the only family he had was in District 12. He was the grandson of the only baker in the district. 

Taeyong recalls when his father passed away, he ran away from home and sobbed in the pouring rain. Jongin found him and gave him bread in secret, but unfortunately he was found out and slapped by his grandfather. 

“I need to go,” Taeyong says, then gets up and starts his way home again, “Goodbye, Jongin.”

Because in his world, there were no see you laters. It was all  _ goodbyes.  _

Finally he arrives at home and stuff their freezer with meat and throws his backpack to the side. He’s washing his hands and leaning against the rusty sink. He looks through the window and to the stars. Taeyong feels as if the world is stepping on his chest. Biting his lip, he closes his eyes and looks down, “Dad, if you are out there please be on my side through this all. Don’t let anything bad happen to Mom or Mark.”

“Hyung…” Mark whispers, and Taeyong turns quickly, seeing his younger brother in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. 

“Markie,” Taeyong smiles, “Come here, baby.” 

Mark runs into his arms and breaks out into tears, “Don’t leave me, please don’t leave me.”

“I won’t, I’ll always come back,” Taeyong replies, “I’ll never leave you in a million years. But promise you’ll never leave me either, okay?”

Mark didn’t know what it meant to keep promises, but he nodded anyways, “Yes, I will never leave you.”

Taeyong was so wrong, and Mark was too. But for the moment peace washed over them in waves, finally getting to bed and holding each other tighter than they ever have before. 

The morning after wasn’t good. Taeyong awoke with his head pounding and his mother rushing around to get them prepared for the reaping. 

“My boys, remember that this year it’s two boys and two girls from our district are being chosen for the games,” She takes a deep breath and pressed her hands to their heads, “Pray to Papa, pray so hard.”

The walk was cold. People all around them looked dead to the world. Maybe it was like that all the time, but today was different. Your heart hammers in your chest, your body breaks out into sweats, and the calling of people to the center of the city pounds into your ears. 

They took your blood, then you were separated into groups of boys and girls, then you hoped for the best. People nervously chatted around them. Taeyong gripped Mark’s hand.

“Just think, you’re in there once,” Taeyong whispers to Mark, “You won’t be chosen. I promise.”

“But.. you’re in there many times, Taeyong, what about you?” Taeyong stares into the crowd and sucks in a deep breath, “I’m not sure, Mark.”

The crowd is silenced by a woman clearing her throat and clapping her hands into the mic, “Welcome to the reaping of the 75th annual Hunger Games! Aren’t you all excited for the fun that awaits? Never mind that, we should get started immediately, yes? Girls first!”

She reaches her hand into the large glass vase, the twirling and digging brings anxiety over the crowd, “Ah, perfect. First girl is… Jung Jinsoul!” 

There’s a cry from the woman’s side and Taeyong can see a girl he knows from the shops named. Yoo Sooyoung collapses to the ground and grab her hand, “No, no! Jinsoul, Jinsoul don’t leave!” 

Army men marched out and grabbed the young girl, dragging her away from the crowd, but she still screamed and tried to get back to Jinsoul. The men held her arms tighter. 

Taeyong turned Mark’s head away from it, and the woman at the podium cleared her throat, “Anyways, our next girl!”

It was terrible how much the Capitol had this sense of superiority over the people. Even if they did, they didn’t have an ounce of respect for people of the poorer districts. The woman pulls another name and clears her throat again, “Kim Yerim!”

The crowd is dead silent, and Kim Yerim exits the crowd. She looks at everyone and bows, “I will not disappoint you!” 

Her voice cracks and she turns to the stage and walks with a small amount of confidence. Taeyong took a deep breath. The girl was small. 

“Boys now!” She calls, “Are you ready to fight?”

When no one responds, she looks down and sticks her hand all the way down to the bottom. Then pulls the card out and reads it. 

The world has a funny way of making things absolutely shit, and Taeyong never believed his life could get any worse. Because she yells the name, and Taeyong’s blood runs completely cold. 

“Mark Lee!” She yells. Mark’s hand in his tightens.

“Hyung,” Mark whispers, “That’s not me… Is it?”

Taeyong feels so cold, he has to do something, “I vol-“ 

“I volunteer as tribute!” A voice yells, someone pushes through the crowd and falls to the ground. Taeyong’s eyes widen, almost bulging from his head as he gets up. 

Johnny stands, “Take me instead. I volunteer as tribute. Please.”

“Well, this is new!” She claps, “Well get on up here!”

Mark is frozen in place, “Hyung, why did he do that?” He’s in tears, “Why did Johnny hyung do that?”

“He.. He is selfish, I was supposed to, Mark,” Taeyong whispers, “You can’t fight in that place. You can’t do it. He did what I would’ve done.”

His younger brother holds his sleeve, “Don’t you leave me now.”

The audience is silenced and everyone looks back to the woman. She hums, “Let’s move on.”

The silence is eerie. It’s unpleasant and everyone looks on edge, like what Johnny done had sabotaged them. Taeyong watched Johnny stage, his eyes following her hand. When she pulls out the paper, he reads it. His expression drops into sadness as he looks back to the crowd and finds his eyes. 

_ I’m sorry,  _ the gaze reads. But what can he be sorry for?

_ “Lee Taeyong!”  _

And the cold is back in his veins.

It’s like spotlights have cornered him. He feels Mark’s release on him as the crowd all looks at the two boys. Mark steps out, then Taeyong stands there in the middle. His heart is pounding in his chest. His mind keeps replaying  _ Lee Taeyong.  _ In that shrill voice. He feels small with all eyes on him. 

Then Mark hugs him, his thin arms wrap around his waist so tight as if Taeyong was gonna float away. He swallows thickly. He is floating away.  _ No.  _ Taeyong has to win this. For Mark. 

Taeyong hugs him back, but the comfort doesn’t last long as the army men grab him away from his brothers hold. It hurts. 

“ _ Mark!”  _ Taeyong cries it, “Don’t give up on me. I will do anything— I will fight for you— I’ll see you later.“

That sentence should never be spoken in a time like this, but Taeyong couldn’t leave his family behind. Mark is too naive and pure for this world. His mother can only last so long without proper care, and their dirt poor. No food or anything. 

He feels a rough hand cover his mouth, and he’s quick to shove it away, “I love you, Mark!” 

As Taeyong stands on the stage, he looks out into the crowd. In the distance he could see his mother crying into her hands being comforted by another mom. She was shaking and crying, if he listened hard enough he could hear,  _ my baby… my baby! _ Then he looks to the other section and sees Jongin standing there with a blank face. He looks hurt almost, even though nothing has happened to him. Taeyong bites his lip and looks next to him. Johnny is already staring down at him with concern, sorry, and fear. He shakes his head.

“Don’t worry about me,” Taeyong says quietly. 

As everyone settles, the woman who drew the names walks to the center and throws her arms up in the air, “And that concludes the reaping! Please send your goodbyes to our lovely contestants.”

_ Goodbyes  _ are what people use when they aren’t sure they’ll see you again. But to Taeyong, at this very moment, realized that goodbye isn’t just a word. It’s something that Taeyong can’t live up to. He can’t say his goodbyes and leave the world without a fight. He _ has _ to win. With Johnny by his side though, all the fear has yet to fade away.

Because to win means he has to lose Johnny, and losing Johnny is something he simply cannot do. 

\--

Melanie is the woman's name. The woman is tall, thin, and wearing too much makeup. It’s bright colors and her outfit is sticking out all over the place. Immediately, almost, Taeyong makes her out to be obnoxious. But apparently, this is the woman that is going to be joining and helping them look good for the presenting ceremony where the people of the Capitol pick and choose their favorite contestants. At least that what Taeyong thinks it is.

“You two boys are all mine!” She smiles, her voice is so feign with joy that Taeyong rolls his eyes. Melanie looks at him with a mean expression, “That attitude will not get you far boy, this is your life on the line and you don’t want to care for it, be my guest.”

“Taeyong, we have to accept this reality,” Johnny says to him. His words don’t meet his eyes, but Taeyong knows he wants them to. “You can’t hide yourself in the dark forever. Mark needs you.”

“Mark needs you too,” Taeyong says, “Why… Why did you offer yourself?”

“Because Mark means too much to you,” Johnny said, “And I did it because I knew  _ you  _ would if I didn’t say something first.”

Melanie clears her throat, “Let’s talk about the game instead okay?”

They go over basics, like what you can and can’t do and all of the jazz about the borders. Taeyong shifts uncomfortably in his seat and looks out the window, “I get to say goodbye to my family right?”

Melanie nods, “You will see them one more time before training. Then you will not see them ever again.”

“Why do you keep implying that we’re going to die?” Taeyong snaps, “Aren’t you supposed to be a mentor or something?”

“Well—“ Melanie chuckles, “District 12 is infamous for losing. You’ve had one winner three years ago, that’s it.”

Taeyong almost jumps over the table, but Johnny grabs his collar and forces him down. Melanie smiles again, “So, what’s so special about you two that can give me any faith?”

She gets up and leaves them be, and Taeyong pinches his skin, “This is all some fucking nightmare.”

“Don’t worry about this stuff right now,” Johnny comments and pats his head, “We’ll prove her wrong.”

Two days later at the house they’re staying at, it’s dinner time. Taeyong has refused to speak to anyone out of spite, just keeping to himself and not worrying about the Hunger Games yet. He looks at himself in the mirror with a small frown.

Looking from an outsider perspective— enter a 5’7 male with black eyes, his face is hollow with high cheekbones, and his nose is small. His hair falls shaggy, raven and a few strands of grayish white that had turned that color due to fear as a child. His build is slim, though his shoulders are broad and he has slight toned arms. 

He wishes he’d come from a richer district, maybe his growth wouldn’t of been stunted and he’d not be a twig. Shaking it off, he turns and steps into the shower, allowing the hot water to run down his body. 

Back at home, warm baths were not common. You had to be lucky to get a warm bath. Taeyong lets himself stay under it as long as he could. He washes all the dirt and stickiness from his body and sighs inwardly when there’s a knock on the door. 

He stays quiet.

“Dinner is ready… Melanie says it’s not good to not eat,” Johnny replies, “So you better join us.”

Taeyong allows himself for ten more minutes before he gets out and changes into the sleepwear they provided for him. He rubs his face with his hands and steps out into the hallway towards the kitchen. He doesn’t like it here. Nothing about it is welcoming or homely perse. Melanie is standing at the table with her arms crossed and Johnny is sitting there eating. There’s another man there. One that Taeyong isn’t sure he recognizes. He’s not all fancy and blown all out in fashion, in fact he looked like shit. 

“Taeyong this is Jaejoong,” Melanie replies, “He’s the only person that has ever won a Hunger Games in your district. You should respect him.”

Taeyong clicks his tongue and takes a seat, not bothering with introducing himself. He looks at the food. If he’s honest, it looks disgusting. But he’ll take whatever, it’s much better than the food at home. He can only wish that the meat is enough to last his brother and mother. 

“Taeyong, don’t be rude,” Melanie frowns, “Say hello.”

“Hi.” Taeyong blanks, he looks back down. He can feel Johnny’s eyes on him that’s confused and worried. He doesn’t know why Johnny seems to care so much. 

“Jaejoong, it’s cool that you won,” Johnny says nicely, “Any secrets?”

Jaejoong thinks for a moment, “Once you grab some shit from the middle, run and never look back. If you lose each other it’s gonna be real shitty finding each other. Make allies but not too many. Don’t trust them either.”

The two male tributes stay quiet, Jaejoong continues. “Take cover in high trees, stay away from nightlock berries. You’ll be dead before you even swallow.”

Taeyong knows that. His father warned him about that. The Nightlock Berries were easy to think of regular berries. But they were anything but. Taeyong recalls walking through the forest and looking at all the plants. His father showed him where to get plants for medicine, herbs for tea, and berries for eating were at as well as the best places to hunt. It’s not that Taeyong enjoyed having to risk his life to keep his family alive, but when you only have your mom and brother it’s rough to not. 

Silence begins to fall amongst the table and Taeyong picks at his food. Despite looking disgusting, it wasn’t the worst thing ever. He was grateful to be given anything to eat at all. Melanie taps his plate with her fork. 

“Why don’t you and Jaejoong have a chat?” She smiles, “Get you out of that little head of yours!”

It’s a nasty fake nice voice, but Taeyong just gives in and lets the others leave. Jaejoong sighs as soon as they’re out of sight and places a hand on the table.

“Listen, Taeyong is it?” He asks, “Nevermind that. I need you to know I was just like you when I was chosen. I wanted to be mad, give up, and just throw my life away. But then I began thinking, my life was my family. I needed to win for them.”

His voice was slurred, not the same as it was when speaking to all of them. Taeyong shifted.

“If you make it out alive, your brain is going to be fucked,” Jaejoong grumbles, “You’re gonna get your shitrocked and face the nightmares for decades. Live with the fact that you killed people.”

“Jaejoong you don’t have to continue,” Taeyong whispered, “I sense you’re uncomfortable.”

“So he speaks,” Jaejoong hums, “Taeyong, don’t do anything that seems suspicious or abide by the laws of physics. You might get your family and girlfriend killed.”

“I don’t have a girl-“ Taeyong is cut off by Melanie’s shrill voice. God, Taeyong thinks, he really fucking hates her. 

Johnny awkwardly follows and places a hand on Taeyong’s head as he passes by.

“First day of training is tomorrow, why don’t you finish up your food and we can get to bed.”

He doesn’t reply and takes a couple bites of his food instead. He really misses his brother, he wants to hug him again. Mark didn’t deserve to live without a brother or father. Taeyong knows he can’t let this happen. 

He couldn’t die.

When he gets into bed, he smiles a little knowing he’ll see his family one last time before he’s sent away. Three days. He can make it. He’ll prove that he’s strong and worthy of being a winner. Prove that people from District 12 aren’t weak, pathetic, and nobodies that they just forget about. 

Taeyong falls asleep to the sound of rain against the windows, and the weight of winning on his mind. 

He is startled awake by Johnny, who grabs his arm and throws him a trainer outfit. It’s ugly. Taeyong hates the color green and yellow together, but those are the colors that represent them. 

After he fits into it, he goes out to the living room where Johnny, Jinsoul, and Yerim are standing and talking. Yerim is more calm and speaking about something with her family, and Jinsoul is quietly listening. 

“Oh! Taeyong!” Yerim cheers, “Aren’t you excited to train?”

If he’s honest, no, but for the sake of the excited girl he smiles, “Yeah, I’m gonna kick ass.”

Johnny tsks, “Taeyongie, always so arrogant!”

“Arrogant?” Taeyong raises a brow teasingly and Johnny drops his defense immediately.

“I’m teasing!”

“Sure,” Taeyong shrugs, “Let’s eat or we’ll be sick training.”

They all gather around the table and converse, Taeyong obviously not included and staying to himself. He looks out the window and watches the clouds drift by. They’re beautiful when not covered by the smog. Taeyong smiles and takes a bite of his eggs.

“Let’s get going,” Jaejoong says as he leaves the bathroom, taking a swig from a small bottle, “Girls in front and boys the back.”

They follow in suit all the way to the train and to the arena where they’ll practice. Jaejoong gives them instructions on what and what not to do, then waves to them. They walk in together and immediately notice all the pairs that are together. Taeyong knows they’re forming alliances. He’s been warned that you shouldn’t trust anyone, however. 

Instead of finding someone to talk to, he walks to the weaponry rack and picks the bow and arrow. They’re slightly heavier than his own wooden ones, but they should make due as he’s got no other choice. Except for maybe a knife, but Johnny’s always been better at that than him. As for Jinsoul and Yerim, he has no idea what they have in store. They could be good, they could be bad. 

Who the hell knows. 

He immediately picks up on the eyes that follow him, but he doesn’t bother who’s looking at him and ultimately just walks to the archery range. There’s one other person there who is just as tall as Johnny who looks awkward. 

He brings the bow up and takes aim, but he’s shaky and the arrow hits above the target instead. Taeyong scratches the back of his neck. He knows he can’t get too close with anyone or else they might take advantage of him. But this guy probably has a family too. 

“You’re holding the bow wrong,” Taeyong says quietly, and the tall guy looks at him. Curiously, he raises an eyebrow, “When holding a bow you want to hold it perpendicular to the ground. Is your right hand your dominant?” He gets a nod, “Okay, so focus holding it more at the center rather than below with your non-dominant hand.”

The taller nodded and fixed his stance after Taeyong showed him how to stand, he aims the bow once more. This time, he hits the seven and smiles widely.

“Wow! Thank you so much!” He turns excitedly, “I’m Rowoon, from District 11.”

“Taeyong, District 12,” He introduces. And Rowoon quirks an eyebrow curiously.

“Wow? Really?” Rowoon asks, “Where did you learn your archery skills?”

“My father,” Taeyong replies. He readies himself and takes aim at the target. He barely bothers closing one of his eyes and draws the bow. Rowoon looks at him with soft eyes, and as soon as he releases and hits the middle of the target he gasps.

“You’re really good!” Rowoon says, “I feel I should be honored to be taught by you!”

“Don’t even worry about it,” Taeyong waves, “I know were about to die, but I can’t let you embarrass yourself like that.”

Rowoon pouts, “You’ve got a sharp tongue.”

“I’ve been told,” Taeyong hums, “You’re like an excited puppy.”

“I’ve been told!” Rowoon smiles, “Say, didn’t your district choose four participants this year?”

“Yeah, they did,” Taeyong replies, “Our District is pretty fucked.”

Before Rowoon can continue, he hears a familiar voice interrupt, “Ah, there you are Taeyong.” Johnny says and looks past Taeyong to look at Rowoon. They’re eye level, and Rowoon offers a smile to which Johnny doesn’t return. “Let’s go, Taeyong. Melanie needs to talk about something.”

He nods then waves goodbye to Rowoon, who just smiles in return and gets back to his bow practice. 

Melanie explains to them once more that people in the Capitol are watching them train and figuring them out. Taeyong huffs. 

“I don’t see why any of this matters if twenty five of us will be dead within a week.” Taeyong says, “What if their favorite contestant dies? Do they lose money?”

“Something like that!” 

A man walks in with a suit on, holding a large clipboard and his hair yelled back roughly. He orders everyone in the training area to gather around. 

“My name is Heechul, although that won’t matter in a week because twenty-five of you are going to be dead, and the one that survives will be living in luxury,” Heechul comments, “Don’t fight with each other, don’t hurt each other, because you’ll have more than enough time for that in the area. Most of you won’t be killed. Around 10% from infection, 20% from dehydration. Remember that exposure can kill you as easily as a knife.”

Taeyong looks around to the other contestants, they’re all looking at the man with blank, cold eyes. He knows that no one wants to be here. When Heechul dismisses them all, everyone goes back to their proper joints and picks up practice fighting against others. He sees Johnny go over to the ropes and Taeyong acts like he’s looking through the knives when Johnny begins. The ropes are wobbly and probably insanely hard to keep balance on. As soon as Taeyong begins to look away and find Jinsoul and Yerim, he hears a cry and someone falling to the ground. He looks over and sees Johnny on the ground holding his arm. 

There’s a few players looking over at him, eyeing Johnny and most likely crossing him over to the weaker team. Taeyong huffed annoyed, and pushes away from the knife rack. 

“Johnny get up and show those fuckers what you’re made out of,” Taeyong doesn’t point, but Johnny manages to sit up and see who Taeyong is talking about immediately, “They most likely think you’re weak.”

Johnny laughs, “That’s funny.”

“It’s not going to be funny when they tag team you and cut your head off.” Taeyong replies, mock sympathy on his tongue, “Get up and show them.”

So when Johnny does, he walks over to the weighted balls and picks the heaviest one. He makes it look like he’s struggling before walking up to the small stage and preparing for aim, then he let’s lose and throws the ball, hitting an arrow rack directly in the middle. 

The group raises an eyebrow then looks away from Johnny. And Taeyong sighs in relief.

Training is boring for the most part, everyone is arrogant and cocky. He can see people talking and making themselves buddy-buddy with each other. That’s probably the stupidest thing you could do, because eventually you’re going to have to just kill them whether it’s in cold blood or they happen to step on some land mine. The training is self explanatory, all they’re doing is fake fighting and getting stronger. Taeyong looks around and watches people go through the different courses, some failing to complete and falling to their demise. 

Taeyong is about to go through the bar course, when he hears two guys yelling at each other. He looks over and sees some tall guy screaming at a shorter guy. 

“You fucking took my knife!” He yelled, and the shorter scoffed.

“I didn’t touch your shit!”

They’re about to fight, but the Capitol guards come in and start to rip them apart. Taeyong looks up to see the people from the Capitol sitting and looking at them curiously. Taeyong rolls his eyes. 

But when he looks up, he can see a bunny-looking boy in the ladder of the ceiling smiling down at them. His look is mischievous and Taeyong looks at his hands to see a knife. 

Smiling to himself, he continues to the course knowing that a bunch of tigers got outsmarted by a bunny. 

Taeyong looked around. One person had stuck out to him. It was a boy who couldn’t be older than fourteen, slim, and his eyes were darker than night like his hair. He wasn’t tall, and if you were to see him anywhere else you’d underestimate him. But he was quick and looked as if he were a fox.

His reactions were quick and he was sly, his soft eyes followed others quickly and when battled he managed to refrain from getting hit and not hitting the other person. Just by the look on his face Taeyong knew he wasn’t one to fight or hurt anyone, he looked young and naive. Just like Mark. Being short could make him to be elusive in the battlefield and Taeyong wondered if he’d go for the cornucopia or just dash to the woods. 

Taeyong grabs a bow and arrow and goes to the area with mannequins that can be used as test dummies. There are three other people there, all fairly good with a bow. Rowoon isn’t there though, and Taeyong fights back a frown. He gets in line and takes aim at the heart of the mannequin, drawing it back then releasing. It hits dead center of the heart and he can hear a few people whisper next to him. 

He aims again, this time drawing it back far and piercing through the mannequins skull. Hopefully this would get others to get the memo he wasn’t afraid to shoot their heads off. 

“The Capitol people are going to be taking our scores on the third day,” He overhears a girl talking to someone, “Apparently they rate our skill level or something like that. One to twelve. One is the lowest and twelve is the highest. I think almost everyone here is gonna get below a five.”

Humming at that Taeyong aims the bow and hits the target right beside the girls head, “You have such a big mouth. Let me see you throw a sword into an eye or bow through the skull.”

“Who the hell are you?” She frowns, her tone of voice holds disgust. She rolls her eyes and looks back to the other person— who quite frankly looks terrified.

Taeyong holds the bow out, “Do it.”

The girl quirked an eyebrow, “What?”

“Shoot me,” Taeyong states, “If you’re so arrogant take that bow and shoot me through the heart.”

She laughs awkwardly, “People are looking. You’re joking right?”

He doesn’t say anything and continues to hold the bow out to her, so eventually she takes in her hands. The bow is heavy, and almost drags her down, but she manages.

A few people have gathered around and Taeyong smirks knowing the Capitol people are probably watching too. When she takes an arrow and draws it back, her arms are shaking and he can see the nervousness in her eyes. And she shoots. 

With a deafening sound, the arrow clacks to the ground and is almost two feet away from her, Taeyong scoffs, “See what I mean? Next time keep your mouth shut and don’t get so bold.”

He grabs the bow and arrows from her and turns away, back to practicing at the range. 

The crowd looks at each other and slowly begins to disperse once more. There’s a hand on his shoulder, “Taeyongie, you can’t do that…”

It’s Yerim, and Taeyong turns around to look at her, “Do what?”

“Do what you just did, you can’t do that,” She whispers, “Don’t give yourself bad luck!”

“She was talking shit, Yerim, no one wants to be here,” He replies, “I get it, okay? I’ve been a bitch since I’ve got here, but we all have stories and we all want to win. Her shit talking to others is not the way to go.”

Yerim pouts a little, “I just want you to be safe.”

He pats the young girls head, “Don’t worry, okay?”

The girl sighs and scurries off to where all the knives are, and Taeyong smiles sadly. He doesn’t want to be like that girl, nor someone to put others down. But there was some truth to the words that girl said. Everyone here are just a bunch of messed who are growing up in a world where their every move is ridiculed and watched. They had no time to have fun and play. He feels his chest hurt with every passing second. There’s so much to find out. 

This world is a terrible place, and there’s no way to escape it.

As the day comes to a close, Taeyong feels worn out and all of his bones ache. He’s been nonstop with his archery and knife throwing, as well as working on reaction time. 

Johnny looks out of it too, drenched with sweat and his tan skin glistening from the fluorescent lights. He looks beautiful. He always does. 

The man was tall. He had broad shoulders and a lean, muscular build that doubled Taeyong. His eyes were a warm brown that contrasted greatly to his light brown hair. He had full lips and a scar that grazed across one of them making the skin lighter than the rest. With his teddy bear like appearance, it was almost hard to be afraid of him. 

Taeyong finds himself lost in thought. He doesn’t notice Johnny waving a hand in front of his eyes, but when he does he fights a blush and looked away, “What’s up with you?”

“You we’re totally spacing out there,” Johnny laughed, the melodic tone of it made Taeyong’s stomach turn. He felt weird. He always felt weird about Johnny, but now it was really hitting him differently. 

If he was able to pinpoint why Johnny made him feel the way he did, he would. But he couldn’t so there wasn’t a point to finding it out. 

“Nothing, big head,” Taeyong frowns and rolls his eyes.

“Taeyongie, why are you so mean to me now?” Johnny pouts, “Love me—“

Johnny goes about singing a song, while Taeyong resists giving in and looks to his feet, “Melanie is going to beat you if she sees you so hyper.”

“Melanie can suck my—“

“Good lord don’t finish that sentence, child!” Melanie gasps, “What in the world is going on!”

—

It’s day three. 

_ Day three.  _

Day three meant it’s the last day to see your family before you were forced into battle. One survivor and one person going home to see their family or loved one. Taeyong wanted to cry this day, shut himself out from the world, and just mentally prepare for the damage that was to come during the games. He bites his tongue though and changes into his training g uniform. When he steps out into the living room of their apartment, Johnny is already standing there ready. He’s always ready. 

Johnny is someone who’s there before you even think about it, whenever you go to tell him something, it's as if he can read minds and just  _ know  _ what to do to help. He’s not someone that deserves to die in vain, and Taeyong hopes he dies like a warrior or wins. If it comes down to the two of them, Johnny has to kill him. Press whatever it is to his throat and just take him out. 

Taeyong sighs softly to himself and nudges Johnny to leave with him. The girls are discussing with Melanie in the living room about opening ceremony outfits and how to present their district. They’ll be joining them in a few minutes. 

The walk to the training arena was painfully silent. Taeyong had a lot to say. He knows he’s been shitty to Johnny, the man who he called his best friend and the only one who’s ever understood him. Some part of him wanted to slap Johnny and say  _ he  _ should’ve taken the fall for Mark so Johnny would be there for him. 

Somehow his mind travels to Jongin. The boy who gave so much, but got nothing in return. He lost his family and lived with annoying grandparents that pestered him all the time. Slapped him around until he shaped up. Jongin was a friend. Maybe a foe, he’s known him for a long time but their lives never clashed. If Taeyong could go back and say goodbye to him he would. 

“Taeyong, stop thinking so hard,” Johnny mutters, “You need to focus.”

“Do you think Jongin is doing okay?” Taeyong asks. Johnny makes a twisted face. 

“Why are you thinking about Jongin?” Johnny hums, “He’s not of concern right now. What’s with that?”

“He’s still my friend,” Taeyong pouts, a little startled by Johnny’s cold tone, “He’s been there for me in the past. It’d be wrong to not think of him.”

“Well maybe just focus on your family and the games, alright?” Johnny walked further ahead and shoved his hands in his pockets. 

Taeyong sucked on his teeth then scoffed, walking faster to catch up with him. 

The two of them were not the first ones to arrive like they anticipated. The people from districts five and eleven were there. Taeyong saw the boy from the ladder on the ceiling and the foxface boy. He looked further around to see the official people from the Capitol already there and watching them like hawks. Taeyong felt like a guinea pig under their eyes. 

Johnny and Taeyong trained in different courses as they awaited to arrival of the other districts. It went in district order to really no matter what he and Johnny would be going to be last. They got the most practice though, in theory. So it wasn’t totally bad. 

Eventually everyone had shown up and district one had gone into the testing zone. The doors were closed and Johnny sat by the door playing with a switchblade. 

“Johnny lets go practice defense,” Taeyong nudges, Johnny quirks an eyebrow.

“Again?” 

“What’s wrong with it?” Taeyong replies, “You’ve been cold ever since we left the house. What’s up?”

“Nothing is wrong, Taeyong, just go practice alone.” Johnny mutters, shooing him away with his hands.

A heard a few people laugh, and Taeyong’s ears burn with embarrassment. He turns away and storms to the bow and arrow rack. Taeyong takes one shot and hits the target.

Maybe he needs to control his anger better. Or maybe he just needs to stop getting so upset when Taeyong knows Johnny is just being a bitch. Nonetheless, he just wants to cry. How could Johnny be rude to him? Had he no shame even though they were supposed to be a team?

The tributes go by pretty quickly, some taking less than five minutes while some took fifteen. Taeyong felt shaky the closer it got to him. Some from the nerves and the rest from the anger he still had in him from his and Johnny’s previous discourse. 

Then finally, Jinsoul was called and she went in. Her test lasted around nine minutes, which was fairly long compared to the others. Then Yerim, who took the entire fifteen minutes, and Taeyong thinks that she used a lot of her intelligence to woo the judges and her quick reaction skills and knife throwing. Yerim might’ve been small, but she was really chatty and bold. 

Then Johnny left and entered his private session. Taeyong could practically feel his heart bursting through his chest as the time clicked away. He could hear others talk about how they had a lot of faith in Johnny because of how big and strong he was. Taeyong bit his lip. He was nowhere near anything like Johnny, despite being strong it was more toned down and he looked thin. He wasn’t tall either, which gave him another huge disadvantage over some of the other tributes like Rowoon, or that boy from District two (who was really good and throwing spears).

Johnny took quite long. 

When he came out, he looked frazzled and annoyed. He immediately walked to Taeyong. 

_ “They’re hard to please,”  _ He whispers,  _ “Just be yourself and manage to get a rise out of them.”  _ Taeyong felt relieved that Johnny wasn’t being a jerk to him anymore, and was actually doing something to help him.

It could make his score poor if he tried anything stupid. Then his name was called and he felt all the eyes on him. Some judging and some nervous, but other than that it was quiet. Upon entering, there was a different selection of racks with different equipment on it. A bunch of men and a few women were sitting atop and talking amongst themselves. Taeyong could finally get a good look at them and see the absolutely clownery of their makeup and how physically revolting they looked. Weird facial hair and hair that was fried and poorly dyed. 

_ This is what they use our shit for?  _ Taeyong scoffs to himself and then grabs the bow and arrow.

“Lee Taeyong, District 12.” He yells to them, and they all look. He doesn’t bother saying anything else as he takes a few steps towards the targets. They’re shaped as humans, with four different target areas. He takes a deep breath. 

He accidentally releases the bow. It flies away from him and doesn’t even land inside the targets body.  _ Fuck.  _ Taeyong thinks,  _ I’m done for.  _ He hears the people laugh and criticize him poorly. Now  _ that  _ pisses him off. He grabs another arrow and walks to the spot he had just been in. 

Taeyong takes aim, he takes an even deeper breath and holds the arrow tightly to make sure it doesn’t fly from his hand too early. Then he releases it, it flies, and hits directly in the middle of the target on the dummies chest. He sighs in relief and half expects impressed claps, but nothing happens at all and Taeyong whips his head to the side and looks at the Capitol people. 

None of them even looked. He squints his eyes and grabs an arrow. Now, Taeyong has quite the temper. He is easy to anger and one way to piss him off entirely is to ignore him. All his life he’s begged for someone to look his way and give him attention, but he’s never received it. Even though Mark and his mother have so much to give him, he still finds himself missing a piece of him. It could be the overbearing fact he had to live in fear every day, but he didn’t know. So to have the people that are supposed to judge you and score you based off your skill, the  _ one  _ thing Taeyong has so badly wanted to get recognized, he snaps. 

Taeyong looks around the area they’re in, and they’ve all suddenly gathered around this  _ stupid,  _ dead pig. But it has an apple in its mouth. Easy enough, hell just shoot the apple. 

He doesn’t bother closing one eye, because his aim is usually accurate. When he raises the bow, he tightens his grip and doesn’t speak once more before releasing the arrow and sending it piercing through the shiny red apple. It hits the wall with a bang, and everyone in the box turns and looks at him bewildered. He feigns a smile, then he courtesies to the people. 

“Thank you for your consideration,” Taeyong fires, the words hold no value or thankfulness in them. He knows he sounds mean. He turns on a heel and slams the bow into its holder then storms out. Taeyong doesn’t look back. 

When he gets out into the arena he sees people look at him confused. As if to say  _ how did someone like him take three minutes?  _ Taeyong ignores them and sits back into the seat. 

“Taeyong, what happened?” Johnny asked, “Why did you come out so quickly?”

He rolls his eyes, “I shot my arrow through one of those stupid apples in the pig. They wouldn’t fucking look my way. So I showed them how to pay attention.”

“Taeyong! What the fuck?” Johnny gasps, “They're gonna tear you down for that!”

“They can do whatever, it’s not like they’re sending us to kill each other, right?” Taeyong replies sarcastically. 

It’s a big deal. A very huge deal according to Melanie, who is panicking and visible shaking from how pissed she is. Taeyong doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal.

“Do you know what this can do to you?” Melanie rants, “What if they just kill you themselves? Or set you up to die? Why did you even think to do that?”

“I was angry,” Taeyonf defends himself and sits back on the couch, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is a big deal,” Melanie spits, “You’re all talk, you boy. So defensive, but are you really that brave?”

Taeyong feels his heart clench at the words and rubs his nose.  _ Maybe I’m not strong.  _ He thinks as he stares at the television,  _ but I am not weak. _

Jaejoong suddenly burst through the door, his suit is all wrinkly and he’s smiling wide, “Taeyong, my boy! That is  _ awesome  _ what you did.”

“Really, Jaejoong!” Melanie yells, “Don’t encourage him!”

“Come on, no one has ever stuck up for themselves the way he did, alright?” Jaejoong said between chuckles, “Imagine getting completely owned by an eighteen year old kid.”

They’re interrupted by the man on the television, who announces he’s going to be giving the scores. 

Taeyong pays attention to the scores well, and tries to figure out who will be a major competitor against him, Johnny, Yerim, and Jinsoul. 

He noted a few of the ones he saw in the training arenas. 

_ Chwe Hansol - 6 _

_ Kim Kibum - 9 _

_ Jeon Heejin - 7 _

_ Lee Taemin - 8 _

_ Kim Seokwoo - 10 _

_ Adachi Yuto - 8 _

_ Kim Inseong - 8 _

And then there was  _ the boy.  _ One boy who had stuck out majorly to him for the skills he had and how sneaky he was about it. Taeyong sat up in his seat and eyes the tribute. 

_ Huang Renjun - 5 _

The score was quite low. And Taeyong found it hard to understand why it would be that low. 

No one from the other districts had stuck out to him except _Chang Seungyeon_ who got a 9, _Kim Jisoo_ who got an 8, and then him. The one boy from the ladders who stole the knife. His name was _Kim Doyoung_ who scored a 7. And he looked as if he were a bunny. 

Then it was finally District 12’s turn. 

Melanie fake cries, “This is where we get embarrassed due to Taeyong’s antics!”

“Now we have Kim Yerim, who scored a 9.”

The group cheers and Yerim claps loudly, “Oh yes!”

“Jung Jinsoul who scored an 8.”

They anticipate Johnny’s, who is sitting calmly next to Taeyong, and then the man speaks, “Johnny Seo who scored an 8.”

Melanie sighs in relief, “Thank god we have you Jinsoul, Johnny, and Yerim.”

The man clears his throat, “And last, but certainly not least, Lee Taeyong who scored an…  _ 11!” _

Taeyong’s eyes practically bulge from his head and he sits up in shock. Melanie and Jaejoong jump from their seats happily and Yerim practically crying with happiness. Johnny places a hand on his shoulder. 

“You did well, Taeyong.” 

And those four words have never felt better in his entire life. Melanie turned to him and sighed, “I’m sorry for getting upset with you. I didn’t know that they’d actually like it.”

“It’s fine.” Taeyong decides to say, because he doesn’t have it in him to really fight. He got the highest score. 

Taeyong smiled to himself and just allowed himself to be calm for once. 

—

Today was the day of the opening ceremony, Melanie was freaking out per-usual and getting their costumes ready. 

Their outfits were prince-like attire that had beautiful black capes that draped off their shoulders. The collars stuck up high that reached halfway to their necks. There were designs of flowers and other beautiful things that decorated along their shirts and capes. Taeyong thought they were  _ that  _ bad considering Melanie was making them. The outfits were to grow flowers from the capes as they moved out through the arena of the opening ceremony. Supposedly, Melanie had detailed that the flowers that grow are able to represent your true character. Because each flower symbolizes something. 

All of it was confusing, but Taeyong knew it would impress the people. Fitted with his outfit was baby’s breath flowers wrapped into a flower crown, while Johnny’s would be sedum tucked behind his ears. Melanie said they greatly reflected them. 

It wasn’t that Taeyong didn’t like Melanie. It was the soul purpose that everything she did for them had to be absolutely perfect until proven what happened was okay. Taeyong was constantly annoyed by Melanie’s pestering ever since he got an 11 on the scoring. Her sudden urge to make his entire being perfect was overbearing. He often could hear Johnny snickering about it in the background, but Taeyong decided not to say anything and just continue to Melanie’s rants about how much faith she had in him. 

“Today you will be meeting your families before the games,” Melanie says, “The games are tomorrow.”

Taeyong takes a long and deep breath. This could be the last time he ever sees Mark. And his Mother, that is. He ponders for a few seconds. If by some miracle that he is to be the finalist between Johnny, Taeyong would either kill himself or have Johnny kill him. Taeyong knows deep down it’ll hurt Mark, but Taeyong knows Johnny is much more reliable than he’d ever be if he won. So many things in this world scared him. 

That’s why he was so impulsive all the time, if he doesn’t allow the fear to show then no one will fight him about it. Taeyong looks at Johnny talking to Yerim and Jinsoul. He can feel his heart break. 

He doesn’t know how long the two girls would last, he feels terrible for not even sparing them a thought. Yerim and Jinsoul are two intelligent girls. Taeyong hopes that they can make it far in the games, maybe even win. He knows they’re scared, just like every other person in this entire place. 

“Let’s get going, yes?” Melanie smiles, “Ahh, my boys and girls, you look so beautiful!” She pinches Yerim’s cheek, to which she beams at the affection. Taeyong  _ wished  _ he had the purity and strength of Yerim. 

The girl was so strong-willed, but so  _ powerful.  _ Taeyong can’t even fathom anyone as wonderful as her being taken down without a fight. 

They all walk to the distance to the car, which will take them to the train station, then take them off Capitol grounds where they’ll meet their family one last time. Taeyong’s hands are shaking. He needs to hug Mark one last time, one  _ last  _ I love you before everything turns to shit. Turn that  _ see you later  _ into a goodbye. Because he can’t see a promise like that to Mark when he’s going to be fighting to the death. 

In so little time, they’re on the train that’ll take them to wherever the hell the Capitol took their families. Taeyong bites his lip, his anxieties not budging or going anywhere the more he thinks of saying goodbye to his mother and Mark. 

“Taeyong,” Johnny says, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy to see Mark and your Mother?”

“It’s not that, Johnny,” Taeyong replies. Johnny looks at him confused. 

“I’m not following, what’s got you so in your head?” Johnny asks quietly, trying not to disturb the other passengers. 

“You do realize, for everyone except one person, this is the last time they’ll see their family, right?” Taeyong asks, “That they’ll never see their siblings, husbands, wives, kids, mom, or dad or whatever the hell they may be?”

“Just worry about yourself, Taeyong, don’t worry about the other people,” He replies, his eyes are kind, but Taeyong knows he’s just as scared. 

“Johnny, I know you’re scared,” Taeyong says, his voice is soft, and he laughs a little, “I have such confidence you’ll make it far, but in the end if it’s just the two of us will you let me take the fall?”

“I’d never hurt you, Taeyong,” Johnny says, “You have to understand where I’m coming from though. You’re family to me, hurting you is like hurting me.” 

“You can’t say things like this to me,” Taeyong scoffs,  _ because I want to be something more than just your friend.  _ He freezes and shakes that thought away, “You have the potential to be someone huge, Johnny. You’ve got the strength and courage, you need to fight and  _ win  _ Johnny.”

“Taeyong—“ Johnny tries to speak, but Taeyong covers his mouth and glares at him. 

“Can we not talk about this right now?” 

“Yes, there is a time for everything, but you should try to not close yourself off from everyone Taeyong!” Johnny slightly raises his voice, making other tributes awaken from their sleep or conversations to glare at them, Taeyong frowns, “You, me, Yerim, and Jinsoul are a  _ team.  _ We all have to care for each other and show that we’re not the weaker district. I don’t want to downplay you by any means, and say you’re wrong for feeling this way— because you’re  _ not _ — but you have to get past this fear you have in you.”

Taeyong knows Johnny’s right, he’s always right. Most of the time at least, and that’s what makes Taeyong so angry. Because he tries to be like Johnny, think like him and have rational thoughts, but in a situation where you’re constantly in fear that you’ll be dead the next day everything is terrifying. He tries to protect his family, shield his mom and brother from their dystopian world. But he  _ fails.  _ That’s why he needs Johnny to live and  _ win  _ and secure Mark and his mother will be okay.

When he was younger, he would sit in his room terrified out of his mind from the bombs that were dropped. Every passing second was like torture to him, eventually when a bomb came too close his heart almost stopped and he fell to the ground next to his dad and mom. He cried for hours on end, and when the bombs finally stopped and the air was peaceful, his father pointed out quietly that his hair had turned grey from the stress. 

Eventually, he grew to hide his fears and try to get past all of them on his own. He had his anger problems, but it wasn’t anything too terrible. Everything was steady until his father passed away in the mine explosion. Hell, Johnny lost his father too, and it was hard on both the families. Especially the fact that Johnny had three younger siblings. 

Johnny was the oldest of them, by four years, and his younger brother who was the second oldest, Jisung, had his own sense of naivety like Mark did. Jisung was younger than Mark by three years, but still was as strong and independent at Mark was. 

So Taeyong needed Johnny to live. For his own family, because without Johnny they’d get hurt severely. They needed someone like Johnny to help them, their brother who loved them all so much and would risk everything to protect them. 

This wasn’t about Taeyong, no, of course he wanted Johnny to protect his brother and mom, but he couldn’t let Johnny die so horribly and have his family loses their oldest brother and son who had sacrificed himself to make sure they’d stay alive. 

Johnny had to win the games, he had to win for the people who loved him. That was the end of it. No take backs or second thoughts. If it was him against Johnny, he’d take the fall. 

For Johnny, always.

When they arrive at the station, Taeyong feels like throwing up. He feels so nervous. 

Melanie motions him forwards towards a building that was in front of the station, and Taeyong follows behind slowly. They were in the twelfth room for the twelfth district. He watched as some of the people he took note on scattered into the rooms for their district. The walk was slow and painful, Taeyong clutched his hands together in fear as he got closer. 

He felt a large hand touch the lower part of his back and Taeyong nodded in a way to say he was okay. 

Jaejoong opened the door and Taeyong was the last one in. The world went in slow motion as Taeyong walked into the cold room. He saw in the middle of the room was Mark and his Mother. 

Mark let a broken cry escaped from his mouth and he ran to his older brother, colliding with him so roughly the force could’ve taken him down. He sobbed into Taeyong’s chest, “Hyung, hyung, don’t leave me.”

“Markie, I won’t leave you…” Taeyong whispers into his hair, “No matter what I’m always going to be with you.”

“I mean don’t leave! Don’t die.” Mark whimpered, “I can’t do this all on my own.”

“Don’t say that, baby,” Taeyong says, “You’re the strongest boy I know. You’ve done so much to help momma and me, okay?”

Mark nods, “I love you. Taeyongie…”

Taeyong helps them over to his mother, who is patiently waiting, “My son…”

Her delicate hands caress Taeyong’s cheek, “My baby boy, what are they doing to you? You look so tired.”

“I am, Momma,” Taeyong confesses, “I’m really tired. I miss you both.”

Being in his mother and brothers hold makes his heart hurt. He knows he’s been thinking of all the ways to sacrifice himself so that they can be happy, but he realizes his selfishness has lead him to be blind. Taeyong sighs.

“I love you both,” Taeyong whispers, “I love you both more than anything in this world. No matter what happens, I’ll be with you. Right by Dad’s side, yeah?”

Mark lets out a shuddering breath, “Stop speaking like you’re going to die.” He fishes something out of his pocket and presses it into Taeyong’s hands, “This pin, it’s a mockingjay. Dad used to talk about how birds are like free spirits. They can go and come whenever they please. A Mockingjay will repeat any melody they hear, like you used to do in the forest.” He wipes his tears with the back of his hand, “I want you to have it. A piece of me with you, always.”

“I can’t guarantee anything, it’s unpredictable, Markie,” Taeyong replies he takes the pin from his brothers hand, “We have to be prepared for the worst. But I promise, I cross my heart that I will  _ never  _ back down. I’ll fight till I can’t fight anymore.” Then he pockets the pin, “I’ll wear it through the games, thank you Mark.”

“Alright, you said your goodbyes. We have to go over other things today,” Melanie said, interrupting all the families moments together. 

“But that was only ten minutes!” Mark cried, “You can’t do that!”

Their mother grabbed Mark’s arm and held him back from going any further. Taeyong frowned, “Mark, be brave. Take care of Momma, I love you.”

Taeyong is taken by the arm by a peacekeeper, and dragged towards the exit, “No! Taeyong!” Mark rips himself from his mother's hold and runs towards Taeyong, but a peacekeeper grabs him and holds him from getting to Taeyong. “Let me go, let me go! Taeyong!”

His heart breaks with every cry he hears from his baby brother, and tears build up in his eyes. Placing a hand over his ears, he does his best to drown them out. 

_ “I love you, Mark.” _

_ — _

“You look so pretty!” Melanie smiles, messing around a little more with his makeup. Taeyong shifts again. 

“How do the outfits work again?”

“When you touch the sunlight, there’s special seeds that will grow representing you, so we don’t know what kind they will be, because the special seeds are specialized for you four only!” Melanie says, “Oh, they're going to love these outfits.”

“How does these outfits represent our district?” Johnny wiggles into their conversation and Melanie just grinned wider. 

“Growth! You guys have so much potential, your growth is phenomenal!” Melanie cheers, “You look so beautiful!”

The outfits weren’t bad, no. As said before they’re like something a prince would wear, except they’re all black. Their pants are long at fit for their legs, boots secured on their feet. The capes are long and flowy, something that would flow in the wind on the chariots. Taeyong looks at the mirror. Their hair and makeup is a stark contrast to their outfits, red and yellow around their eyes and their hair styled to look flowy and luscious. Taeyong frowned. 

He looked like an absolute clown, not that the outfits were terrible, but the fact he looked like he was from the  _ Capitol _ . Taeyong hummed and looked back down to where the stylists were fixing their outfits up. 

He wasn’t ready. 

The games began precisely at 7 AM the next day, and their opening ceremony was no less than two hours from now. His heart raced. 

It was going too quickly. 

Johnny places a hand on his shoulder but is immediately slapped softly by a stylist to stop. Taeyong laughs a little. 

“Taeyong, Yerim, and Jinsoul,” Johnny says casually, “We will be okay. We need to stick together and we’ll be stronger that way.” 

The others nod, but Taeyong stays still, and mumbled, “Promise to stay with me?”

“I promise,” Johnny replies quickly. 

Promises were so empty in a moment like this. 

After hours of preparing, they finally arrived at the stadium where they’d ride through the path and be welcomed by the President of the Capitol. Taeyong felt anxious, but Johnny kept massaging his neck. 

“You and me will be sharing a chariot, and Yerim and Jinsoul will be on the other ones,” Johnny says, and Taeyong nods. 

“I’m so nervous,” Taeyong looked around at the other tributes. Some looked at him annoyed, while others just minded their business. 

“Alright, get on your chariots we will be going out in five!”

Taeyong looked to the television, where a bright and bubbly looking man with blue hair was smiling, “Good evening Panem, my name is Yuta! We’re here today to welcome the tributes to the 75th annual Hunger Games! The people of our beautiful city have been anticipating this moment from the day the reaping happened! Who will stick out the most? Which district will bring us to our feet? We shall find out!”

They begin to file out, and music blares through their ears. It’s a symphony of violins, Taeyong thinks. He’s never even seen a real violin in person before. 

Yerim hugs both of them before rushing off with Jinsoul to their designated chariot. 

Taeyong takes a deep breath and looks at Johnny, “We got this.” 

The adrenaline of bursting into an arena of screaming adults dressed in heavy costumes and makeup wasn’t something Taeyong ever expected to be part of. As they go further though, the flowers blossom around them at beautiful speeds. 

“Wow! District 12, flowers?” The announcer says, “Now that is a  _ costume!  _ The flowers are growing with each passing second. But they’re growing different? Anyone able to tell the meanings of flowers?”

The Panem people scream for their outfit, some standing and chanting District 12. Taeyong felt Johnny hit his hand, “What?” Taeyong whispered, keeping his gaze ahead.

“The people will love it, just take my hand,” Johnny mumbles. So Taeyong swallows his pride and lets Johnny raise their hands above their heads. He’s right, the crowd goes insane for them. 

“Now that’s delicacy and beauty right in front of our eyes folks!” The announces yells, “Oh look! The District 12 girls are doing it as well! Isn’t this a sight?”

Eventually they made it to the end, the crowd had been hushed as soon as the president strode over to the podium and looked at the tributes. Taeyong could’ve sworn he was eyeing him, but that could’ve been the anxiety. 

“Welcome, tributes,” President Sooman had bellowed to the people, “As you may know, this is the 75th Annual Hunger Games. You all will be competing to your last breaths and there is only  _ one  _ survivor who  _ has _ to win. We salute and value the courage it takes to fight in this time. Your sacrifice to this world, will not go unnoticed. We wish you a happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.”

_ “May the odds be ever in your favor,”  _ Taeyong repeated quietly to himself. 

It was hard, you know, focusing. When the world is put in the palms of the hands of a young boy who’s been through everything terrible in it, it’s just hard to stay focused on one thing. In Taeyong’s eyes, focusing on one thing wasn’t something he could do. His mind was wanderous. 

But that phrase, he rethinks it a million times.  _ May the odds be ever in your favor. I wish you to have the best luck at winning, not just now, but always.  _ Taeyong repeated it in the mirror, the halls, to Johnny, to anyone he could think of. But he could never understand why President Sooman of all people would tell a bunch of children who are going to die that phrase. One victor would live up to it, he might as well not say it at all. 

Interviews were directly after the opening ceremony, and after that was a feast. Then they’d head back to the apartments and prepare for the battle. Some tributes went to train, while others studied nature and what they could use to survive. 

Taeyong learned a bit ago about these people who trained all their lives for this moment, and  _ volunteered  _ for the games. Usually they’d win and if they didn’t it was seen as something terrible. They were called the Careers. Taeyong wondered what would be different about his life if he was part of that. Would he have met Johnny?

Would Mark be his brother?

The walk to the dressing rooms where they’d be changed into something more suitable for that sort of thing was very long. Yerim was chatting their ears off about the other tributes outfits and trying to decipher their meanings. Jinsoul fondly listened. He really hasn’t heard her speak in a long while. She must have it hard, she had to leave behind the closest person to her, Sooyoung. It must’ve been quite the rough start for her. Having to see her best friend get dragged away by the peacekeepers. 

Melanie chose pure black suits with gold trimming and sewn in designs all over the chest. 

After a long while and wait, they finally were up for the interview.  _ Yuta  _ was the interviewers name. He didn’t seem insane, but you could definitely tell he was from the capital. 

Yerim went, then Jinsoul had gone. She spoke with soft sincerity and Taeyong was happy to hear her voice after all this time. 

  
  
  


Melanie was fixing his makeup. While Jaejoong has prepared his outfit for the crowd. Supposedly, when he spin flowers were supposed bloom from his sleeves and his cape that he was going to wear. The cape this time was silky black, and his shirt was black mesh with velvet sleeves accompanied with velvet slacks as well. Taeyong admits it’s not uncomfortable. It’s always probably better fit for him as well. 

“And now we have, the pure, innocent beauty of District 12,” Yuta gets a rise out of the audience before screaming, “Lee Taeyong!”

Taeyong walks out awkwardly. He feels anxiety crawl at his skin the closer to Yuta he gets. He wished this could’ve been holographic, he’d rather now have the eyes of Panem on him. 

Yuta says something, but Taeyong is too distracted to answer. But the man waves a hand in front of his eyes, “Hello?”

“Oh, uh— What did you say?” Taeyong asks weakly, his chest hurts when the crowd laughs at that.

“I said, your entrance at the opening ceremony was phenomenal!” Yuta said, “I mean, you and your tribute friends outfits had such an exquisite standout compared to the others!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Taeyong murmurs, “Uhm, they were supposed to represent us. The flowers were supposed to grow and what the flowers symbolize represents our personality.”

“Such deep thought, anything else?” Yuta says, and Taeyong nods.

“They also proved growth, you know, because we have grown as a District in the games with our tributes,” Taeyong says, “We want to prove we’re not nobodies.”

“That is so lovely,” Yuta replies, then he looks at his outfit, “My that’s a gorgeous outfit!”

“Oh, right,” Taeyong sits up, “It’s way more beautiful when I spin.”

“Then let us see!”

Taeyong stands up shyly, then slowly but surely begins to spin, grabbing his cape and letting the flowers bloom from it. The sensation of the flowers running down his arms made him laugh a little, but the crowd loved it. 

“Our flower, our beauty, Taeyong everybody!” Yuta screamed, and Taeyong finally settled down then waved everyone goodbye. He rushed off stage and took a deep breath. 

“I hated that, I really did,” Taeyong grumbled. 

“It’s only the beginning, sweetie,” Melanie hums as she foxes up Johnny. 

When it’s finally Time for Johnny, Taeyong holds his breath and looks at the TV nervously. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, the handsome devil Johnny Seo!” The interviewer yelled, and the crowd went up in flames, “Now, tell my Johnny, how are you feeling?”

Johnny hums, “Quite alright, I think… This is quite the place.”

“Haha, do you like it?” Yuta smiles, “Must be very different from home.”

“Yeah, uhm, the showers are different.” 

The crowd laughs and Yuta does as well, “Well, apparently they are.”

“I think I smell like roses,” Johnny says, “Want to sniff me?”

Taeyong chokes on his own spit, god, Johnny was enjoying this too much. He watched Yuta lean over and sniff Johnny, “Wow, you certainly do.”

Johnny scratches the back of his neck, and nervously chews on his lip, so Yuta gasps, “Ah, right! Johnny, we the people of the Capitol admire your bravery that you volunteered for someone else. Tell me, why did you do it?”

“Well, I know him very well actually,” Johnny says softly, “He’s the brother of my best friend. I couldn’t let him go, and my heart hurts for that kid. He’s been through a lot.”

“That’s admirable, that’s why everyone finds you so dashing, Johnny,” Yuta grins, “Speaking of you, do you have anyone special waiting for you at home?”

“Well, no, I don’t,” Johnny replies, he looks down.

“With a face as handsome as yours? Unbelievable!” Yuta gasps, “Come on, is there anyone?”

“Well… There is someone,” Johnny says, he smiles a little, “They’re really close with me. I’m fighting for them.”

“Well, win and I’m sure you’ll pull their heartstrings, especially with how brave you are!” He cackles along with the crowd.

“That’s the problem,” Johnny awkwardly laughs, “I can’t do that.”

Yuta quirks as eyebrow, as if telling him to continue, so Johnny does. If Taeyong says he doesn’t feel extremely confused right now, he’d be lying. “He’s here with me. I volunteered for his brother, but he was picked nonetheless. I wanted to win for him, but now we’re stuck in the games.”

The interviewer quiets down, “I’m sorry to hear that, it’s very unfortunate.”

Almost immediately Taeyong can feel his heart spasm, and he feels like he’s going to faint. 

When Johnny exits the stage, Taeyong immediately grabs him by the collar and slams him into the wall, “You think it’s funny?” Taeyong yells, “Embarrassing me in front of the entire Capitol? Johnny? What is  _ wrong  _ with you!”

Jaejoong grabs Taeyong’s arm and pulls him off, “You fucking asshole, why the fuck would you—“

“Taeyong!” Jaejoong yells, “This isn’t a bad thing!”

“How the hell isn't it a bad thing? Two fated lovers die on the battlefield? Is that it?” Taeyong spit out and wiped his face from any stray tears, “Do you know how much you’ve been pissing me off!”

Johnny clears his throat, “Taeyong—“

“No, just shut the fuck up!” Taeyong seethes, “I’m sick of this!”

“Taeyong,  _ this isn’t a fucking bad thing! _ ” Jaejoong cuts off Taeyong before he can continue and grabs the small man by the back of his neck, “This shit gets your sponsors that may just save your ass when you’re close to death!”

Taeyong stays quiet after that, pulling himself away and walking away. Yerim, who wasn’t that far from them follows after Taeyong and mouths a sorry to Johnny. 

“He’ll cool down,” Melanie says, “In the meantime, let’s discuss some important things to remember while on the field.”

After Yerim catches up with Taeyong, he burst into tears. He’s crouched down in a vacant hallway sobbing into his hands. 

“Taeyongie… don’t cry,” Yerim rushes, “Hey, it’s okay. Johnny didn’t know you’d react like that…”

“He should’ve, were fighting for our lives Yerim, were either going to die or one of us will win,” Taeyong sniffs, “Worst of all, I know what Jaejoong said is true. The Capitol thrives off of shit like this.”

“Do… Do you love Johnny, Taeyong?” Yerim says softly, “You… Acted kind of defensively…”

“Yerim,” Taeyong lifts his head and wipes his nose with his sleeve, “How can I love someone if I don’t even know what love is?”

Yerim slouches, “Sometimes you just have this weird feeling, you know? Some weird tickling in your stomach. Like bugs.”

“Bugs?” Taeyong laughs, “That’s cute, Yerim.”

“It’s the truth,” Yerim pouts, “You just  _ know.  _ And sometime you will.”

—

Taeyong is standing in this weird, technical room. There’s a glass tube in front of him and his throat is closing up. The longer he stares, the more real it becomes that his last breath could be today. He feels a lot better than he did yesterday, because Melanie had given him this weird medicine. He wasn’t speaking to Johnny, and Yerim was next to him for the rest of the time. 

It was very weird knowing that your life could end in hours, days, weeks. He felt as if he was dreaming a very long dream at points. Everything around him was surreal and seemingly perfect despite how corrupt it was. 

They told them  _ may the odds be ever in your favor  _ to children who’ve lived shitty lives. And now they were being set up to live even shittier ones if you escaped the cornucopia. 

Then there was survival. If you didn’t know how to survive, you would die. Everything you knew would vanish so quickly. Taeyong knows what it’s like to survive in a gruesome world like this. 

He knows all too well. 

Jaejoong stands next to him. All four of them were separated because they weren’t allowed to be next to each other in the games until after the countdown at the cornucopia. Taeyong takes a deep breath and places his hand on his heart, as if it’d steady him. 

“You’ve been training for this moment, okay?” Jaejoong says to him, “You’re more ready than any person here. Even them Career kids, they don’t have a chance over you. If you stay focused and make allies along the way, you won’t have to kill them. It’ll happen all on their own terms. Be cautious, think everything through, and don’t hesitate ever if you think you’re in danger.”

Taeyong nods once, “When you won… What did you feel?”

“I felt like shit, but like I’ve actually done something right for once,” Jaejoong laughed, “But don’t piss the Capitol off, ever, got it?”

“Wh-Why?” Taeyong asks, his eyes questioning. 

“They’re just not someone to mess with, that’s all. Just powerful,” Jaejoong hums, “Now go fight like a tiger, flower boy.”

_ ‘ALL TRIBUTES PLEASE ENTER THE SEND OFF TUBE.’ _

Taeyong flinches. 

The man steps forward and brings Taeyong into a strong hug, “Don’t let anyone bring you down.”

Walking to the tube made Taeyong feel like death. But Taeyong reaches slowly up his jacket and brings the pin Mark gave him between his fingers. He takes a deep breath, “For you, Mark.”

Suddenly the tube closes and Taeyong panics, pressing his hands against the glass. He feels anxious. But keeps taking deep breaths as the blinding light of the sun meets his eyes, and he lets the warm air sooth his body. 

Taeyong looks around and spots all of the people he’s been watching. He sees the bunny boy, his hands anxiously fiddling with the bottom of his jacket. Then he sees the small foxface boy, his eyes are sharp and on something at the cornucopia. Taeyong can’t imagine what it could be. The boy is blessed with everything. 

_ 50 _

Almost every tribute feels their skin crawl, and they all snap their eyes the middle. There glowing numbers counting down from 50. Taeyong sucks in a deep breath and takes on final look around. Jinsoul is standing exceptionally still, while Yerim is getting ready to run. When he locks eyes with Johnny, the older male looks sympathetic. 

_ Don’t go to the middle, Taeyong.  _ Is what the expression reads. But Taeyong knows he can’t just  _ not  _ get supplies. 

_ 20 _

It reads, and Taeyong thinks back to that phrase,  _ may the odds be ever in your favor.  _

Then he thinks of Jaejoong,  _ don’t let anyone bring you down. _

_ 10 _

And lastly, Mark crosses his mind. The boy was deathly afraid of losing his older brother. Taeyong closed his eyes for a second, then touched his pin, 

_ A piece of me with you, always. _

_ 1 _

  
Let the games begin.  
  



	2. Day 1: Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taeyong is alone, but maybe that’s for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for deaths & blood!!!
> 
> my chapters are never beta read pls forgive any mistakes!!! Enjoy :)

Taeyong sprints off the block, his eyes on the bow and arrow sitting just in front of him. Unfortunately, he trips himself and it sent flying to the ground. He groans, but pushes himself back up. Everything is  _ terrifying.  _ His hands sweat as he looked around, seeing people attack one another. He spots a bag, deciding that the bow was too risky and starts for it. 

He can hear the gurgling off blood, cries for help, and thudding to the ground but he doesn’t stop. He sees Yerim in the distance swinging a sword and taking another tribute out, he stops running when he sees Johnny disappear into the woods.  _ Fuck Johnny _ ,  _ are you seriously that stupid?  _ Taeyong looks around and ultimately decides that the cornucopia is not the place to go, at least not at the center. The Careers have taken over and he sees a boy he  _ thinks  _ is named Kibum impale a young boy with a sword and shudders. Then Heejin, a girl he knows is from District 2 and part of the Careers snaps another person's neck. He looks around and sees a boy grab and bag and book it from the cornucopia, then following directly behind it is another bag. He takes off into a sprint to it. 

Taeyong grabs the bag from the ground and runs for the trees, but as soon as he thinks he’ll escape someone trips him and pinned him to the ground. 

Taeyong groans and tries to shove them off. 

“District 12 flower boy isn’t as strong as I thought,” He sneered _.  _ Taeyong jerks his hips and makes the tribute loose balance, ultimately falling over next to him. Taeyong jerks his body up and grabs for the bag again, and the other tribute lunges, but before he can reach Taeyong an arrow is protruding from his chest and he falls to the ground. 

_ Rowoon.  _ Taeyong snaps his eyes up and Rowoon just offers a nod before grabbing the arm of the bunny boy.  _ Doyoung.  _

Taeyong shakes the thought and takes off into a sprint again for the forest, he has no idea where any of the people he came here with are, if they’re alive, or if they’re safe. Taeyong thinks for a moment what he’d do if any of them were to die. He couldn’t let them die in vain, and if he could find out who killed them he’d avenge them. 

He makes it to the forest, Taeyong thinks about how Jaejoong said  _ don’t look back _ . Lost in thought, he didn’t notice the small boy burst from behind the trees and collided with him. Shaken, Taeyong jumps back from the fright, but he sees its foxface, or Renjun, if he remembers and knows he just can’t kill him.  _ He’s too young.  _ They stare each other down before ultimately running opposite directions and deeper into the forest. 

Taeyong doesn’t stop, he keeps on getting deeper and deeper to the point vegetation is more prominent than trees. He’s about to turn, but he sees another tribute sprint near him so he takes a sharp turn and pushed through a bunch of leaves before slipping and falling down a hill. He can feel all sorts of sticks and leaves scratch his body and he tumbled and can only hope he doesn’t slam into a tree. Taeyong ends up at the bottom of the hill, but immediately pushes himself up and sprints again. 

There was a large tree knocked over, so Taeyong collapsed onto it and caught his breath. He decided to look at what was in his bag. A water canister, rope, string, a larger type of blade, and a few matches. The canister is empty, which kind of annoys him but who is he to be picky at a time like this? 

He gets up and continues, this time walking as quietly as he can in search of a water source. It doesn’t take long before he finds a little stream. This is probably the luckiest he’s going to get. Taeyong pulls out the canister and fills it to the brim with water, then drinks some with his hands to save water. He also rinses his face and hands, the slight sting from the mini scratches lasted for no longer than a few minutes. Taeyong shakes his hands dry and looks for a tree that he can stay in. 

His mind wanders as he looks, it seems to be doing that a lot nowadays. The first thought goes to whether Johnny, Jinsoul, and Yerim are okay. He didn’t doubt that they would make it through the bloodbath, but with the Careers, it made everything more intimidating and difficult. 

Taeyong sees a large tree that at least looks climbable, so he hurried over and checks it out to see if it’ll work. In the end it does, so Taeyong climbs as high as he can go and throws a leg over the thick branch of the tree. Luckily, he’s able to rest his legs on it as well, so when people are passing by they are less likely to see him. He ties himself to the stump and rests his eyes. It’s going to be hard to sleep at all with the constant fear someone will murder you in your sleep, and Taeyong takes this time to himself to process how things are going to lay out. He doesn’t know who’s alive or how many people have died. Hell, Johnny could be dead in a ditch somewhere and he wouldn’t know. 

In the end he does fall asleep against the tree, the rope keeping him from falling down from movement. When he does awaken, it’s almost dark and there distinct noise coming from behind him. 

_ “Hey, I see someone, it looks like they built a fire,”  _ A voice chimes, and then the others laugh, “God, she won’t stand a chance. Who’s stupid enough to make a fire so in the open?”

Taeyong cringes, but he’s happy that it’s not him getting tag teamed. There’s a scream, and then a canon that bursts through the sky. Then light flashes through the forest. 

People pop up on the magnetic field that is around the arena. Naming people that have died or were killed. Taeyong watched closely, silently praying that none of his mates are going to be on the list. 

There’s one name he knows that appears on the screen, and it’s Kim Inseong from District 4. Ten people in the first 8 hours. When he doesn’t see anyone from his district, his anxiety falls and he can breathe again, his  _ teammates  _ are alive. Maybe they’re together and looking for him. Not likely, Yerim was last seen by him fighting and Johnny sprinted into the forest almost immediately. Taeyong scoffs. 

Johnny is stupid. He didn’t have any supplies with him and unless he made an alliance with someone then there was no way he’d get any on his first night. The careers at the cornucopia would probably make that their base. Taeyong wonders if Johnny is hurt or if he’s about to get his head cut off. Gruesome thoughts, but Taeyong doesn’t feel reassured by the fact they’re separated. Johnny is nice, really nice, he’s always doing things for others and he’s definitely one to hide rather than fight. 

There’s crinkling and suddenly voices are too close for comfort. 

“You swear he went this way, lover boy?” A girl mumbled.

“Honest to God,” The other guy replied.  _ Wait.  _ Taeyong turned his head to peak beyond the tree, and in all his glory was Johnny standing with a bunch of careers with a spear in his hand.  _ Johnny when I said form an alliance, I didn’t mean to form an alliance with people who want my head on a stick.  _

He takes a deep breath and decided to just listen in on their conversation instead of getting involved. If he did, it’s him against what, five people? He can’t do that. They’d kill him immediately. 

“God, if we do find him who gets to kill him?” Another girl spoke up, she sounded too happy to be here.  _ Who in the right mind is happy to fucking be in this.  _

“I say whoever gets to him first,” Johnny replies, “I mean if you get to him then it’s only fair, yeah?”

Johnny walks ahead along with some girl he now recognized as Heejin, and a boy named Yuto. Taeyong bites his lip. He twists to look at who the others were.  _ Kibum and Jisoo?  _ He knows it’s Kibum, but he’s not sure about the girl. 

“Why don’t we just kill him, he clearly doesn’t know where the hell Taeyong is,” Jisoo groans, “I’m bored too. There’s been like, no action!”

His blood suddenly feels so cold, he knew that Johnny formed an alliance with the careers, who arguably wanted to kill him, but Johnny was leading them around to kill him? What the  _ fuck  _ is going on. As the group disappears into the forest, Taeyong find himself not wanting to stay in this place in fear that they were testing him or coming back later. He unravels the rope and gently helps himself down from the tree, taking off into a sprint the opposite direction. The night air is cold against his skin, and he feels thankful that he was able to sleep so long without anyone killing him. Goosebumps trail up his neck and make him shiver. It was definitely going to be one of the most challenging things to keep warm. Taeyong slowed down his running as he came across a rocky pathway. He could see the translucent glimmer ever so slightly under the bright moon.  _ So  _ he was close to the border. 

Taeyong takes a u-turn, then disappears back into the forest for cover and safety. Being out in the open as such isn’t a good thing. When Taeyong get in, his stomach growls uneasily and decides he should probably look for something to eat before he passes out from hunger. You can easily go a long time without eating, that is, unless you drink water regularly. Taeyong bites his lip as he looks for bushes, looking for the easiest thing which would be berries. He spots a raspberry bush not too far away and praises the gods that he was able to find them. He knows they’re safe because he read a bunch of books about berries and survival techniques in his free time while he was in his bedroom back at the Capitol. 

He picks a bunch and munches on a few, then opens the pocket of his backpack and shoves as much as he can gather. High ground is going to be needed now, he can’t stay low at night or people will definitely sneak up behind him and get the first hit. Taeyong was not going to go down that easy. 

After finding a tall tree that was perfectly climbable, he rests against the trunk and tied himself up again. He felt so drained and it was only the first day. A loud cannon is heard far away, and Taeyong jolts up from the slumber he almost went into. He looks to the sky.

_ District 10 _

_ Park Minhyuk _

He’s about to doze off when he hears a loud crack not to far behind him, when he turns around the entire forest behind him is ablaze. Taeyong undoes the rope as quick as he can before jumping off the tree in a way that wouldn’t hurt as bad. He sprints past the trees and leaves, and soon enough the fire is surrounding him as he runs.  _ Where the hell did this fire come from? _

Taeyong ducks under a log the same time a fireball is shot at him, missing him narrowly. He climbs over the log then takes a sharp left where he sees u damaged forest, and tries to pick up speed. The smoke and the running didn’t do him justice. He looks to his left momentarily to see another ball of fire he hurled at him, and he dived into a small cave, but something had to of scorched him because his leg hisses with pain. 

_ “Fuck!”  _ Taeyong cried out and grabbed hold of his leg, a large burn mark traveled down the side of his leg and he bit his lip from the pain. “What the fuck!”

He pulls him up and lumps away, as quick as he can from the fires and sighs in relief when it all has disappeared. He distantly hears water running and picks up his pace towards the sound. 

There’s a baby waterfall that falls into a pond of clear water. Taeyong could cry from happiness and lets himself fall into it. The cold water on his burn is like heaven, and he manages to drink a fair amount of the water as well to hydrate himself from all the smoke he inhaled. 

“There he is!” Taeyong shoots himself up from the water and locks eyes with Heejin, who is standing far from the little pond he’s inhabited. He immediately begins to swim towards the only plausible exit from the water and feels his heart pound from the anxiety. 

“Come on, don’t let him get away!” Another voice, Kibum, shouts. Taeyong finally frees himself from the water and sprints towards the forest. He does a bunch of twists and turns, but the sounds of their cheering does him no justice in losing them. He makes it to a large tree and climbs it without thinking about it, getting to the highest point where they can no longer get him and slumps against the tree. If anything, he can easily kick whoever tries to come up the tree. 

The are surrounding the tree in seconds time and Yuto rushes to begin climbing it, he looks to be struggling to Taeyong mentally praises the Gods that he is safe. 

He falls to the ground, so Kibum steps in and tries to climb up, but fails almost immediately. 

“Guys, let's just wait him out,” Johnny suggests, “He can’t stay up there forever. He’ll either die of hunger or dehydration. Then when he comes down we’ll kill him.”

Taeyong winces. He knows Johnny is capable of climbing a tree as much as he is, so why would he defend him, even if it’s as small as that? Nonetheless, Taeyong feels his heart finally die down. He could probably somehow get out of this, but only if they’re all asleep. Though… one of them might keep watch, so it’s pretty pointless. Taeyong takes in small breaths. He needs to calm himself down. 

The burn on his leg makes a comeback and he feels tears prick his eyes. Without proper care, there's a huge chance his burn will get an infection. How had the fire even started? Was it the Capitol who sent those flameballs? 

If it was the Capitol, they tried to  _ kill him.  _ Which meant everyone wanted him dead, for god knows what reason. Taeyong looks at his burn with worried eyes and takes the wet sleeve of his jacket, hoping somehow it’ll relieve the pain it inflicted upon him. 

His body was exhausted, it was around three days at most. No one was really keeping track and no one was counting. Taeyong looked at the sky, it was cloudy out. 

How late it was, who knows. All he knew was that he had to wait out these fuckers at the bottom. Taeyong wasn’t usually one to get scared easily anymore, he didn’t let things get to him as he had to be brave for his brother and mother. He hoped they were watching him and praying for his safety. All those families that had to watch their loved ones die, from ages 12 and above. The youngest Taeyong knew of was Renjun, who was 14. He felt sad for the poor boy. 

After what seemed to be hours, Taeyong had fallen asleep. He’s awoken by a small chiming noise which makes Taeyong look up to see something floating down. It gets caught on the tree and Taeyong looks down at the group to see they’re all sleeping. Carefully, he made his way towards it and threw his leg over the stump that stuck out next to it. He reaches for it and opens it quickly. 

_ ‘Use as little or as much as needed xx Jaejoong.’ _

Taeyong opens it, seeing it’s a serum for wounds and smiles a little. He felt a little happy that Jaejoong was watching over him, knowing that he cared. He wondered what Jaejoong thought of Johnny betraying his own teammate. The one he confessed his love for on TV. 

He gently places the serum on his burn, and it feels like all the pain has been taken away. Taeyong mentally thanks Jaejoong and maneuvered himself back down to the tree and tied himself back up. He slumps against it, and he sees the others are still asleep so he sleeps as well. 

The next time he wakes up is to a rock being thrown at him, thinking that he’s under attack he grabs the rope and looks down, but when he sees nothing moving from the group he looks around. He checks his burn, which has completely healed and he smiled softly, but someone whistles to him. To his left is the boy he saw with Rowoon, but Rowoon was no was nowhere to be seen. He follows the boys finger and there’s a large nest above the head of the tributes below him. 

Bunny boy makes a motion that is cutting, and then points to them below. He looks through his bag a little and grabs the blade. Climbing up the tree he takes a deep breath. This could cause the death of Johnny. Unless he gets away. Johnny will get away, he slept far from the group.  _ He has to get away.  _ He tried to stop thinking about it and finished climbing the tree, settling between two stumps and reaching over to cut the branch. 

_ Tracker Jackers.  _

_ Stings from the tracker jacker are extremely painful and cause dangerous hallucinations. In more extreme cases, it can cause death. The track jacker venom ican also be used as a torture method to hijack a person's memories. The venom creates hallucinations upon the memory and the memory is then seen differently by the person to mess with their head.  _

He goes as fast as he can, but that does nothing to block the fact that a few do get to him. One sting his arm and then his neck, making him cry out a little, but continues to cut. There’s about three more stings until he can get the branch to finally snap, and then the best weighs it down, making it fall all the way to the ground. The bees reaction is instant and go up in a swarm. Everyone screams and begins to swat them away, Taeyong watches nervously. He immediately notices that Johnny is  _ not there.  _

He watches as everyone disappears, but Jisoo whimpers and falls to the ground, all the tracker jackers surround her drowning out the screams and they fade into nothing too soon. A cannon is heard, signaling the death of her and Taeyong watches unsympathetically as the bees leave her body and disappear somewhere. 

Taeyong makes his way down, but slips on the last branch and hits the ground with a painful thud. Everything is spinning out of control, he’s reminded that he got stung at least six times by them. The venom kicks in and he staggers in his walk, collapsing against a tree and looking around. 

In a way it felt nice, all his anxieties faded with the hallucinations. But the world spins at a rapid pace, everything looked to be lagging the more he tried to look around. His body flies forwards as a painful memory floods his thoughts. 

_ His father enters the mine, smiling and laughing with his miner buddies. He takes a drink of water and looks nervously and motions the air as if he smells something. The head guy just shakes his hand and sends them back off to the elevators. He then exits the mine, leaving the miners alone and to do their job. As they prepare to go down, their trip is cut short when a loud bang sounds through their mineshaft and they go down.  _

_ Then out of nowhere flames and explosion burst through the opening and kill all the men in one go.  _

Taeyong whimpers and holds his head, then he’s transported to his mother and brother standing before him. 

_ “You’re the reason for your father dying,” His mother says, “If you hadn’t told him to work that day, then he’d be here with us.” _

_ Mark nodded in agreement, “Why would you do that Taeyong?” _

_ Taeyong shook his head, “It wasn’t my fault, I didn’t tell him—“ _

_ “Taeyong, run!” Taeyong looked bewildered at his mother before she spoke once more, “Go, Taeyong!” _

_ “W-What?” Taeyong reached for her, but she shoved the hand away, “M-Mom, please forgive me—“ _

_ “Go, Taeyong!”  _

He was taken back to reality to find Johnny shaking him, he wasn’t focused enough and the world still spun. Taeyong reached for Johnny’s hand on his arm. When he touched it, he saw Johnny’s panicked face turn to softness, but then back into his previous state in a split second. 

Then, he blacked out. 

—

Awakening after that episode he faced wasn’t something he thought he’d go through. Especially not someone standing above him nervously. It was a boy with raven hair, but as soon as he focused he recognized it as the bunny boy. 

“W-What happened?” Taeyong managed to get out, “How long was I asleep?”

“About three days…” Doyoung said, “I changed your leaves twice a day and gave you water…”

“Thank you,” Taeyong said earnestly,”Why did you help me?”

“Because… you helped my brother, he wouldn’t of lasted if you hadn’t taught him the bow skills—“ Doyoung trailed off, “He said you’re really kind. And you always watched me whenever you saw me— I thought I’d help you out…”

“It was nothing… but thank you nonetheless. How many tributes have died?” Taeyong asked. Doyoung tensed.

“Yeah… two girls, one from district 7 and another girl from your district,” Doyoung looked at his hands and laced them together, “I’m sorry about it.”

“W-Who was it?” Taeyong stuttered, “Jinsoul? Yerim?”

“Jinsoul, yes. That was her,” Doyoung nodded, “She was young…”

“She—“ Taeyong can feel his entire body squeeze, “She was, I knew this would be hard. I can’t imagine the pain her friend Sooyoung is going through.”

“Why aren’t you with Johnny?” Doyoung asked, he sat down next to Taeyong and chewed a little on his lip, “I saw him with the Careers a bit ago.”

“Is he still with them?” Doyoung was quick to shake his head no.

“When I got to you be put you in my arms and told me to take care of you,” He said, “He looked really sad, but then ran away to the river, I’m assuming.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Doyoung whispered, “If you’re hungry I got a few berries. I promise none of them are poisonous.”

“Thanks,” Taeyong laughed, “Hey, why aren’t you with Rowoon? And why are you alone?” 

“Well, long story…” Doyoung said quietly, “We were running from the cornucopia after he saved you and… we ran into these two people and he told me to run. So I did. But I never saw him again. Then I ran into the boy, Jaehyun, from District 7… He was someone I relied on during the training, he was always teasing me and he helped me with the skills I needed. After two days we were separated, I don’t know how. That’s how I ended up in the tree next to you.”

“Oh, god, I’m sorry Doyoung,” Taeyong says softly, “You didn’t deserve to be on your own like that.”

“It’s okay, really!” Doyoung leans on his hands, “I’m tough, my brother says since I’m like a rabbit people will underestimate me. Haven’t you seen that pretty boy who looks like a fox? He purposely scored low on the scoring so people would leave him alone.”

Taeyong sat up, “That’s very smart of him. The only reason I scored high was because I let me anger get the best of me.”

Two cannons go off in the distance, then two names pop up in the sky. 

District one and eight, which meant that District were now out of the game. If Taeyong can think properly, that meant there were ten people left in the game. 

Everyone was dropping like flies. Just so many days ago there were 26 people alive and healthy. 

“You don’t have to think so much, you know,” Doyoung says, “Thinking is the most deadly thing a person can do.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Taeyong takes a few of the berries that Doyoung had grabbed from his makeshift bowl, and eats a few, “Hey, Doyoung.”

“You know my name?” He asked bewildered. 

“Of course I do,” Taeyong patted the youngers cheek, “We will find Jaehyun and Rowoon, I won’t let you go on without them.” 

Doyoung smiles, “Your hearts too big for your body.”

“I’m usually told I’m cold, so thanks for that,” Taeyong hums.

“The careers, they have a mountain of supplies at the cornucopia. If we go there and destroy it we can totally ruin the game for them,” Doyoung mentions suddenly, “They’re with each other and one other tribute. I stalked the area and was able to get a glimpse. Mines surround it though, that’s where destroying it comes in.”

“That’s genius,” Taeyong agrees, “We can go tomorrow morning. Let’s hunt a little to get food like meat, though, okay?”

Doyoung nods quickly, then stands up quickly, “Taeyong, I will not let you down! Ever!”

Doyoung was a precious soul, he had such innocence to him that Taeyong adored. It was like he didn’t know anything could go wrong, that this wasn’t really happening. Maybe he was refusing to accept it, but to Taeyong he didn’t know if Doyoung would ever kill anyone. His hands were clean and eyes were brighter than he’s ever seen before. Doyoung skipped ahead of him and Taeyong smiled sadly. 

He couldn’t let anyone hurt Doyoung, no matter what happened he had to die before someone hurt him. Just like he would for Mark, just like he’d do for anyone as pure as Doyoung. 

For Rowoon, for their district, he had to let Doyoung strive till he couldn’t anymore. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u for reading !!
> 
> once again any questions are welcome!!! as well as comments and kudos 🥺🥺
> 
> i hope you all like it :((
> 
> (Also DOYOUNG AND TAEYONG MET 🥺🥺🥺)


	3. The Nightlock Berries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johnny meets a strange boy, who seems to have just about lost his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW // this chapter deals with suicide, and while one of them is not said it’s very implied that it was that. as always, death and blood are in this chapter.
> 
> read safe ❤️
> 
> and ignore spelling/grammar errors.
> 
> i changed a lot bc i realized i made oopsies with the deaths and tried to make it work out!!! hope you’re not too confused!!

Johnny was a lot of things, and one of those was an asshole. 

Despite his undying love for Taeyong, he had gone out of his way to betray Taeyong’s trust. Even if it was to keep them off his tail because he knew they were trying to kill him, he didn’t explain to Taeyong that at all. 

It started when Johnny had ran from the cornucopia without grabbing a single thing. He raced into the forest and soon realized that that had been one of the stupidest mistakes he could ever make, so ultimately he had to figure out a way to get around that barrier he created. He decided on hiding in a tree for about an hour before running out from the forest and spotting the Careers had made their home the middle despite all the dead bodies surrounding them. Johnny saw one of them heading towards him, ready to kill, but he had held his hands up and said he’d help them find Taeyong. They didn’t quite believe him, so he said that Taeyong didn’t love him back. 

It wasn’t completely a lie, but Johnny wouldn’t kill Taeyong for not loving him and he just needed a reason they could trust him. They looked skeptical, but in the end asked what he was good with to which he responded a spear and strength. 

They said that was good for their team, they didn’t even really question where he learned his skills from. 

Heejin, one of the girls seemed quite obsessed with impressing him. She was skilled, in truth, but Johnny didn’t really know what about him came across interested in girls. He played along, in the end, as Johnny would either kill the Careers when no one was looking, or if it came down to them in the end. 

Johnny knows Taeyong can survive on his own, but his heart doesn’t fail to feel hurt that he is betraying Taeyong like so. When he lead them to the unwilling girl from a district he didn’t really know, he felt terrible. They seemed to have their fun though, each taking the time to get their hits. Johnny just watched, unable to do anything due to nervousness. When they had walked away, Johnny  _ had  _ seen Taeyong asleep in a tree and wake up when he heard them. Which made Johnny’s stomach drop. 

Immediately he said that he went a different way and began to lead them somewhere else after explaining whoever saw him first could kill him. Which arguably was such a shitty thing to say, because if anyone looked up at that very moment Taeyong would be the next canon ringing the arena. 

When they reached back to the cornucopia, Johnny swore he’d seen someone stalking them behind the tall grass, but didn’t say anything as he didn’t give a single shit about anyone in the Careers. Johnny helped them pack a mountain of items and even ‘befriended’ a tribute and told them they could keep watch while they went on a hunt. 

For Taeyong. 

Which can, if not completely, be Johnny’s fault. When they decided to go to the river, for some reason Johnny felt nervous. If Taeyong was there, what the hell would he do? He unintentionally  _ did  _ lead them to the one person he loved most. 

As soon as they arrived, Heejin squealed, “There he is!!” 

They all took off after him and chased him down into the forest, where eventually he had nowhere to go but up. Taeyong was always good at hiding, so that’s exactly what he did. It’s not like it was common anyone had to gift of being able to climb a tree so flawlessly. But Johnny knew how, and despite that he had taken the opportunity to just tell them to wait Taeyong out. He knew Taeyong would find a way out of this. 

When they all sat around the tree, he could sense how tense it was even if he were miles away. Johnny managed to get a conversation out of them, and helped get food to eat for the night. They all were fairly quiet, and eventually Johnny had coaxed them into sleeping. He stayed up to watch, and looked at Taeyong’s small form sleep uncomfortably, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth in a frown. He looked so hurt, in pain, and it made Johnny’s heartache uncontrollably. 

Johnny looked around the trees and saw a boy no younger or older than he was eyeing Taeyong with soft eyes. Then he looked at Johnny and mouthed,  _ go,  _ Johnny quirked an eyebrow. The boy had made a praying gesture as a way to say  _ trust me _ . 

Luckily, Johnny got the memo and looked at all of them sleeping, then he took off a little ways away into the forest. He stayed crouched down by the small stream that ran through the forest. He gathered some in his hands and took a few sips. 

After an hour or so, he heard a deafening crack and screams from the area he had just been in, making him shoot up from where he was and look that way. Whatever had happened, he heard a scream for help then a cannon, and he immediately took off into a sprint toward it. Johnny felt anxiety filled his veins, if Taeyonf was dead, it was  _ his fault.  _ He swatted a few bees away and eventually they all disappeared into the woods and he looked around nervously. 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Taeyong fall from the tree and hit the ground. 

“Taeyong!” Johnny yelled, he picked him up gently, and there were stings on his wrists and neck, “God, no, Taeyong don’t let these take you from me!”

He pulled the smaller boy into his arms, and cried, he felt so terrible, but Taeyong reached for his hand and then suddenly jerked it away. 

Taeyong pulled himself away and settled with Johnny’s hands on his arms, he was crying, and Johnny looked around, Taeyong had to get out of here. 

Taeyong shook his head, “It wasn’t my fault, I didn’t tell him—“

Johnny looked back to Taeyong confused, before just shaking his head, “Taeyong, run!” Taeyong looked bewildered at him before he spoke once more, “Go, Taeyong!”

“W-What?” Taeyong reached for him, but Johnny shoved the hand away, “M-Mom, please forgive me—“ It hits Johnny that the tracker jackers venom had hijacked his memories, whatever he was going through was probably hurting him more than anyone ever could. Johnny shakes his head, then holds Taeyong’s face in his hands.

“Go, Taeyong!”

Another figure appeared behind him, “I’m Doyoung, I will take care of him. Right now, you just need to go before the Careers pin this on you when they see you with him.”

He looked skeptically, “Okay. Please take care of him, I know he’s going to act brave but trust me when I say he’s scared. He has a warm heart, say the right things. The truth.”

Taeyong is still standing there, he touches Johnny’s hand and stares blankly into the taller’s eyes. Tears are running down his face, but Doyoung takes the boy into his arms and promises he won’t hurt the one he loves, them disappears into the forest opposite of where the Careers ran, Johnny hopes. 

Johnny decides to go to the river, it’s where he can best rest and think about things. If anyone is there he’ll have to fight them, obviously, but there’s only so many people and Johnny really doesn’t think that there will be anyone to bother him. The journey back isn’t long, just a day ago he was chasing Taeyong through the forest. 

He settled by the pond, and looked around. In the near distance there was a body laying. Which is strange because he recalls there being hovercrafts that collected the bodies of the dead. Johnny readies the pocket knife he has in his pocket (one he stole from Heejin not that long ago) and carefully inspects the body. There’s nothing but a gash across his cheek, and Johnny pulls out his knife and points it at the guy. 

“Get the fuck up or I’ll kill you,” Johnny spits, “Trying to trick others?”

The guy opens one eye, “Dude, I’m just sunbathing.”

“Bullshit,” Johnny retorts, “The hell you really doing?”

“I’m honest!” He fake whines, “Sheesh, don’t go waving that thing around, ya might kill someone.” He laughs, and when Johnny doesn’t he quiets down. 

“Too soon?” He smiled lopsidedly, but stands on his feet soon after and bows, “I’m Jung Jaehyun, tribute of District 7! My buddy and I separated during bloodbath, she was really nice. Which really sucks. I also lost the love of my life, I don’t know where he went. I would do anything for him.”

“You’re delirious,” Johnny said, “God, when was the last time you ate? Drank water?”

“Dude, it’s not called the Hunger Games for no reason,” Jaehyun laughs, “But honestly, it’s probably just sun poisoning.”

“I’m Johnny, District 12,” Johnny introduces.

“Oh,” Jaehyun hummed, “You’re the district with like, four tributes right? Well, like District 11 had two  _ male  _ tributes _!  _ Apparently, like, the brother begged to be with his baby brother. So, yeah,” He picked a few berries from his pocket and showed Johnny. 

“These babies are Nightlock, they’re so poisonous that you don’t even get a chance to swallow before they kill you,” Jaehyun sighs, “I’m only going to use them if my lover dies before me. It’ll be like Romeo and Julio!”

“Do you mean Juliet?” Johnny said, “And Jaehyun, you can’t let the death of your lover be the reason you stop living. Wouldn’t he want you to stay alive and fight for him?”

“Dude, we made a suicide pact,” Jaehyun said, he puts a hand to his head, “ _ By any means we are to die, take thy nightlock and let us lie together in harmony.” _

Johnny thought this guy was absolutely insane. 

It takes a total of three hours before Jaehyun doesn’t act like he’s delirious, or on the brink of going crazy. He’s quite skilled, actually. 

He knows how to hunt and make fires, and knows how to make decent conversation. 

“What was your reaction when you were chosen?” Johnny asks quietly, “Did you think that you ever would?”

Jaehyun shrugged, “Honestly, in a way I did. I have always been someone who has bad fortune, it was only a matter of time before anything like that happened. I was just a boy who cut down trees who now is living in the woods, avoiding death at any possible costs. And no offense, but not trusting anyone.”

“But you trust that other boy, right?” Johnny asked, “The one you like?”

“Of course I do, but trust isn’t always trust, right?” Jaehyun says, “You can trust your gut, but your trust can be wrong. Just like you blindly trust the government that everything is alright—“

Jaehyun stops, “Never mind. On the topic of trust, do you trust the people from your district?”

“Of course, I built a relationship with all of them. I don’t know where Yerim and Jinsoul, the girls from my district, are but I know they’re striving. They’re really strong for being from a district like ours.”

The other boy hums, “That’s nice. What about Taeyong?”

“Ah, you know him by name?” 

“Yeah, he was the one who scored so high,” Jaehyun laughs, “He’s very beautiful. I can see why you love him.”

“He’s a really important person to me,” Johnny responds, “Taeyong, he’s— he’s been through a lot. I know he blames himself for the death of his father and I know he’s scared. But he’s so hard-headed that he doesn’t want to show weakness. But I appreciate that about him, he’s so strong and can take anyone down.”

“You sound very in love, it sucks the type of situation we’re in,” Jaehyun says, “How about we go around and look for supplies? This cave is getting boring.”

Right, the cave. They had gone into it for the sole purpose the smoke didn’t catch attention from passerby’s. Jaehyun said that it was really easy to be found if you could see smoke from above the trees, they’d follow it until they go to you. 

They put out the fire, then they quietly made their way from the cave and into the fresh air. It was night time, and Johnny looked above the trees to see if there was anything that could be seen. 

In the far distance, there was a pillow of smoke above the trees. Johnny nudged Jaehyun, but before either of the two could say something, there were two cannons that burst through the air.

Jaehyun whirled around to look at the sky. 

One girl was from District seven, the other was Jinsoul.  _ Jinsoul.  _ Johnny’s mouth fell open in shock the moment he saw her picture pop up. 

“Woah, what were the chances…” Jaehyun said, “Both girls from our district?” 

“Jinsoul didn’t deserve to die,” Johnny pressed both of his hands to his face, dragging them down, “Neither did the girl from your district. This is so fucked.”

“I’ve  _ been  _ saying that, you just realized?”

“No, I knew, it just feels different when I feel like not even three days ago I was giving her survival tips and hyping her up,” Johnny laughed bitterly, “Now she’s dead? What about Yerim and Taeyong? Will I lose them before I can see them once more?”

Jaehyun awkwardly shifts feet, “Well, there’s no point in worrying about this hard. Both of them scored high, so they know what they’re doing.”

“What about that boy you’ve become infatuated with? What’s his name?” Johnny hummed, he looked over to the boy, “If you were to lose him, you said you two made a suicide pact, right?”

“Yeah, we did,” Jaehyun responded, “What about it?”

“What is in his dying moments he told you to win for him, would you do it?” 

“I wouldn’t,” Jaehyun says, “As much as I respect his wishes for me to win, there’s such a small chance that I would actually win. And his name is Doyoung, by the way. He’s the boy from District 11.”

Johnny takes a moment to process the name, before remembering what happened with Taeyong not that long ago, “Hey, a boy named Doyoung said he was going to take care of Taeyong for me. He said that it was better this way because if the Careers saw me with him they’d know I was fooling around with them.”

“What? Seriously?” Jaehyun’s eyes widened, “Was he injured anywhere?”

“Not that I could see, but he was very careful with Taeyong,” Johnny replied. It’s weird that the universe has a strange way of bringing people together. It was weird that the girl from District seven died with Jinsoul, it was weird that Jaehyun’s lover boy was the one taking care of Taeyong, and it weird that Jaehyun and him formed a bond. Sometime in the future they’d have to kill each other off, but at the moment Johnny decides he’d rather not think of Jaehyun dying or anyone for that matter. 

They hunted for a little while, not finding any person but managing to gather berries and kill a few tiny animals. Johnny was gathering berries, making sure that they weren’t poisonous when he heard Jaehyun scream.

Almost immediately he took off in a run towards Jaehyun, almost plowing him to the ground in the process when he reached him. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Johnny said, “Why the hell did you scream?”

“Someone threw a knife at me!” Jaehyun said, “Look, they sliced my arm.”

Jaehyun pouts a little, but snickers, “I didn’t know people were so obsessed with me.”

“This happened before?”

“Someone tried to drop a log on my head on the first day,” Jaehyun hummed nonchalantly, “Then someone actually got me and cut this stupid gash into my cheek, I killed em’ though.”

“Fucking Christ,” Johnny mumbled, “Who did you piss off?”

“Fuck if I know,” Jaehyun shrugged, “But that doesn’t matter anymore, whats important is I’ve made it this far.”

“Six days out here tomorrow,” Johnny scratched the back of his head and tugged Jaehyun alp Nd with him. Now he had to protect Jaehyun, who had someone out to kill him. Even though that’s basically what this entire game is, he still felt bad that Jaehyun was dealing with someone out there who’s tried to kill him at least three times already. “I’ll keep watch first, maybe I’ll catch a glimpse of who’s trying to kill you.”

Jaehyun laughed, “Genius idea!”

They settled right back by the river, where it would be easy to see if someone were to sneak up on them. The cave was as beautiful as before for comfort, and Jaehyun easily fell asleep after Johnny made the fire. 

Nothing really happened, Johnny woke Jaehyun up what he assumed was a few hours later and they ate together, then Johnny took a nap. 

He dreamed in colors, light, happiness. Despite the situation he wanted something to shed light on what was happening around him. There were things he loved, including Taeyong who was happily standing next to him. There was no dystopia, what they lived in seemed to be a utopia. 

Johnny is startled awake all too quickly by the shaking of Jaehyun. When his eyes finally adjust to the light, he cranes his neck to look at Jaehyun. 

He looks to be fine, the cut on his cheek still looked disgusting, his brown greasy hair still stuck out everywhere, but nothing about this screamed a reason to be awake. 

“What wrong, Jaehyun?” Johnny mumbled. 

“We both accidentally fell asleep, is the problem,” Jaehyun said, “What if we died because of my carelessness?”

“Yo,” Johnny sighed, “We’re alive, that’s what matters. Next time don’t let it happen, okay?”

“Two more people died,” Jaehyun said, “That’s what woke me up. I don’t know how long we’ve been asleep.”

“What districts?” 

“Eight and one,” He responded, “One boy, Kibum who was a career, and one girl.”

“Let’s get moving, then,” Johnny hummed, “People are probably all over the place. Tensions should be high. People might be looking for water source as we go through these last few days as well.”

Jaehyun gave a thumbs up and stood up on his feet, Johnny following. He felt his pocket for his switchblade, relieved to find it untouched. The pair went out into the open, eyeing the grounds for any anyone that may be reasonable to go after. 

Not too far away there was a small boy filling up a water canister, seemingly unbothered or watching around him. Jaehyun nudged him and pointed him out. 

It was the boy who resembled a fox, Johnny contemplated actually killing him for a second. That would be one less person to worry about, but if he remembers Taeyong had mentioned him in the past and knew people underestimated him. 

“No, let's leave him be.” Johnny pulled Jaehyun along. There was no use in fighting fire with gasoline if avoidable. The two of them walked in the opposite direction, towards a different part of the woods that was far enough so the fox like boy couldn’t see them. 

“I would’ve felt bad if I had killed that kid,” Jaehyun sighs, “Honestly, I hope he doesn’t die by someone killing him. I hope he dies peacefully, at least.” Johnny manages a nod, looking around for any stalkers as they walk along a makeshift path in the woods. It’s too quiet, in all honesty. Johnny stops them in their tracks when he hears a small stick break.

“Get behind me,” Johnny orders, but Jaehyun squints his eyes, “Jaehyun, get behind me, I swear to god.” He seethes it through his teeth. Jaehyun finally obliges and Johnny checks the perimeter. It’s a perfect spot to do a sneak attack, and Johnny has a gut feeling it’s the guy after Jaehyun.

“Is something wrong?” Jaehyun asks obliviously, but Johnny ignores him.

“When I say dunk, dunk, no questions,” Johnny replies instead, very quietly, he’s watching the area where the stick broke, “Ready… Now Jaehyun!”

Jaehyun dunks the moment an arrow whirls past their heads and hits a tree behind Jaehyun, then a boy with bleach blond hair emerges from the bushes and takes off running. Johnny doesn’t think about it before he throws his switchblade and nails the back of the tribute, a cannon following shortly after. 

_ Lee Taemin _

_ District 6 _

“You do anything to piss that dude off?” Johnny hummed, and Jaehyun shrugged.

“Never seen that man in my life,” Jaehyun confesses, “That’s weird.”

“Eight people,” Johnny mumbled, “There are eight people left and it’s only what, Day 8?”

“Oh, god, you’re right,” Jaehyun replies, “Wow… Oh, shit. You’re not gonna kill me right?”

The air becomes thicker than normal, so Jaehyun and Johnny stick close together to avoid any surprise attacks on one of them. They had food and water in their bag, so that wasn’t much of a concern at the moment. Their only true concern was that there were eight people, two of which were Careers, one was the fox boy, Doyoung’s brother from district 11, him and Jaehyun, and then Doyoung and Taeyong.

“Let’s take down the careers before anything, okay?” Johnny says, “It’s better than going for Doyoung’s brother or that fox boy.”

“If I killed Doyoung’s brother I don’t think he’d ever forgive me,” Jaehyun kicks a stray rock on the ground. “I can’t bring myself to kill a child, either, so I suppose you’re right. But we’ll need more supplies and sneak attack plan.”

“We could scheme, kill them, then we can look for Doyoung and Taeyong!” Jaehyun chirps again, he looks at the sky peeking through the leaves of the tree, “I cannot wait to see Doyoung again.” 

As Jaehyun finishes the sentence, there’s a loud ear-piercing explosion that makes their ears ring. Johnny is almost taken off his feet from the sudden blast, while Jaehyun’s eyes blow wide open. “Holy shit!”

As they stand quiet, waiting for something to happen, a cannon rings out and disturbs the silence that fell after the explosion. It had to of been ten minutes at most. Jaehyun, for some godforsaken reason, is triggered by that. 

“Doyoung…” He whispers, then he’s gone in a flash towards the direction of the cannon. Johnny can barely keep up with him, it’s as if everything is just dragging him back from catching up. Jaehyun swerved around trees and dives under logs, throwing Johnny off. Another cannon rings their ears, but Johnny doesn’t look up to see who came next. He sprints as fast as he can. 

“Jaehyun! Come back here, now!”

The first cannon, sadly, had been Huang Renjun. The fox boy from a district he failed to see and he had yet to know which one was the second one. He didn’t wanna know how Renjun died, and quite frankly he was sure it could’ve been a career that killed them.  _ God help those vile souls.  _ Johnny almost lost sight of Jaehyun the moment his foot hit a body and sent him flying to the ground. 

He turned around, and almost throws up when he sees Renjun lying there, eyes still open.  _ Shit.  _ There were no injuries on his body that signaled he had been attacked, but in his small hand were nightlock berries, the juice dripping down his thin fingers. 

There’s no way Renjun would willing eat those, he spent all that time studying the forest. Taeyong had told him that he was intelligent. And it wasn’t that hard to see, either. Johnny takes a deep breath, he knew what had really happened. He is quick to shake his head, and looks away. 

Quickly, Johnny flies to his feet and takes off in the direction of Jaehyun once more, shaken by what he had just seen. When he finally reaches Jaehyun, the man is standing above Doyoung, who has a spear laying next to him and his hand is clasped around one of Jaehyun’s. Johnny decides to stay back. 

_ “Hey, Doie,”  _ Jaehyun mumbles, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

Doyoung shakes his head, “Don’t worry about dumb things like this.”

Taeyong is standing not too far away, a bow by his side shaking. His hands are covered in blood, as if he tried to stop it, but couldn’t. He is in shock, if Johnny can guess. Not too far away is the body of what looks to be Yuto. That must’ve been the second cannon. Jaehyun gets on his knees next to Doyoung and smiles sadly. 

“I made a friend, you know, he’s really nice,” Jaehyun sniffed, “I see you’ve made one too. He’s cool, he protected you the best he could.”

The bow next to Taeyong drops, and Jaehyun continues, “I love you. I know it’s very soon to say that, but I do.”

“And I you,” Doyoung says, “I barely know what that is. I’m only seventeen, but for you I know I love you.”

Jaehyun wipes his eyes and kisses Doyoung’s hand, “Tell me about your day.”

“Well, today… me and Taeyong went hunting, we gathered materials…” He smiles, then squeezes Jaehyun’s hand as tight as he could, “Then we went to the cornucopia. I set fires and Taeyong… he blew up their supply mountain.”

Jaehyun spared Taeyong a glance, then looked down to Doyoung again, “You really made it far, baby. You’ve made it so far.”

“Yeah?” Doyoung mumbled, almost incoherently, “Hey, you have bags under your eyes. Are you not sleeping well?”

“You’re worried about me?” Jaehyun laughs bitterly, “Why?”

Doyoung takes his hand from Jaehyun’s and shakily reaches for Jaehyun’s face, “You know, the sky seems so bright now. Can you sing for me?”

“You want me to sing for you?” Doyoung nods quickly, “Okay, baby, I will. For you.”

He sings, a soft melody that Johnny remembers as a child, it’s gentle and Jaehyun pets Doyoung’s cheek as he sings.

_ “Deep in the meadow..”  _ Jaehyun brings the smaller boy into his arms, smiling gently again as he continues, “ _ Under the willow… A bed of grass, a soft green pillow…” _

_ Lay down your head _

Jaehyun kisses Doyoung, right there, so softly it could be missed, and brushed his hair back so his forehead is exposed, Doyoung’s eyes flutter, he mumbled something that looks like  _ I don’t wanna die. _

_ And close your eyes _

A small kissed is placed on his forehead, “I’ll be following you to the afterlife, Doie.”

_ And when they open _

Taeyong’s eyes widen at the sentence and he looks ready to jolt forewords, so Johnny rushes behind him before he can move. 

_ The sun will rise…’ _

Jaehyun pulls out the nightlock berries and that’s when Johnny pulls Taeyong into a tight back hug,  _ “Don’t kill yourself!”  _ Taeyong cried, “Fight, goddamnit!”

Though the other boy pretends not to hear, and the melody continues to play in Johnny’s mind. 

_ Here it's safe _

Jaehyun maneuvered himself to a lying position next to Doyoung, who finally closed his eyes and a cannon rang through the arena. 

_ Here it's warm _

The nightlock berries lay in Jaehyun’s palm, and he takes all of them at once. They stain his fingers like they did Renjun, “He wants you to live.” He hears Taeyong say brokenly.

_ Here the daisies guard _

Taeyong let’s a broken sob fall from his mouth the moment the cannon rings through the arena. He collapses while Johnny is still holding him and allows himself to be smothered by Johnny’s entire body. “It’s okay, Taeyong, it’s over now.”

_ You from every harm _

“It’s my fault,” Taeyong cries, “I should’ve saved him. I should’ve been the one dead!”

_ And here your dreams are sweet _

_ And tomorrow brings them true _

_ Here is the place where I love you… _

Johnny looks to the sad sky, the clouds seemingly know that it’s a sad day. He closes his eyes, continuing to hold onto the small boy. His body vibrates against his own, making it hard to relax himself. 

“It hurts now, but soon it’ll be over,” Johnny says, “Taeyong…I love you.”

Taeyong nods into his chest, “I know.”

Eventually, Taeyong musters up the courage to place flowers around them. He stands above the bodies when he finishes, shuffling over to Johnny who stood back and watched. Taeyong looks around before making eye contact with a tree.

He kisses three fingers, then raises it to them. Johnny feels the coldness radiating off of him. 

_ Deep in the meadow _

_ Hidden far away _

_ A cloak of leaves _

_ A moonbeam ray _

If this were a movie, Johnny could feel all the light fades to darkness as Taeyong fell back to his knees in defeat.  _ It’s not your fault.  _ Johnny wants to say, but no words come out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!!!!
> 
> i hope i didn’t make you too sad with all the death, i promise i won’t hurt you that much any longer.
> 
> also notice that i changed a lot of aspects? like doyoung as rue? instead of dying in taeyong’s, he died in jaehyun's. i felt the need to add a scene where they’re together, so i put the two together to create a tragic romeo and juliet type death. 
> 
> i also included the melody katniss sings to rue!!!
> 
> and taeyong’s inner thoughts will be next chapter!! the next chapter will be his POV of after the whole tracker jacket ordeal to the end of this. what’s there to come 😳..!!!
> 
> i hope you enjoyed! kudos and comments are very very appreciated 🥺 they make me day.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> To be more clear about things, obviously all these characters aren’t going to be directly like the characters in the movies or books! I added inspired scenes and my own scenes to add to that angsty touch and get the heart beating faster. This chapter, as you can see is from Taeyong’s point of view. Chapters will go day by day, and include POVs from both perspectives and what is going on with them and their internal thoughts.
> 
> As you can tell, Taeyong has a lot of deep rooted things going on for him, but as you can also see he doesn’t let anybody take him down without a fight. (That’s my baby!)
> 
> If you have any questions, feel free to ask away! Or if you feel something needs to be tagged, do not hesitate to let me know and I’ll add it immediately! 
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are very welcome and help a ton.
> 
> Thank you for reading!!!


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